Wiley, Immunology, 3(123), p. 305-313, 2008
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2567.2007.02801.x
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The use of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) tetramers in the detection and analysis of antigen-specific T cells has become more widespread since its introduction 11 years ago. Early challenges in the application of tetramer staining to CD4+ T cells centred around difficulties in the expression of various class II MHC allelic variants and the detection of low-frequency T cells in mixed populations. As many of the technical obstacles to class II MHC tetramer staining have been overcome, the focus has returned to uncertainties concerning how oligomer valency and T-cell receptor/MHC affinity affect tetramer binding. Such issues have become more important with an increase in the number of studies relying on direct ex vivo analysis of antigen-specific CD4+ T cells. In this review we discuss which problems in class II MHC tetramer staining have been solved to date, and which matters remain to be considered.