News & Events

BD Biosciences, a segment of BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), today announced the availability of reagents enabling a major advance in the detection of human regulatory T (Treg) cells, a key cell type involved in cell and tissue transplantation, cancer immunotherapy and autoimmune disease research.

Two research teams from the Centenary Institute of Cancer Medicine and Cell Biology in Sydney, Australia, and The Diabetes Center at the University of California, San Francisco, collaborating with BD Biosciences researchers, reported to the Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies that a three-color cell surface staining approach for flow cytometric analysis of CD4, CD25 and CD127 on human T cells can provide precise identification and isolation of regulatory T cells without permeating and destroying the cells, as current detection methods do.

“Scientists’ ability to isolate and purify T cells is central to understanding their regulatory function,” said Noel L. Warner, Ph.D., VP of Scientific Affairs for BD Biosciences. “Our method is a targeted, specific approach that generates strong and clear signals of high quality while keeping the cells alive. It enables scientists to sort still-living cells with flow cytometers and further investigate their roles in protecting human health and preventing disease.”

According to Dr. Warner, discriminating between Treg cells and other effector T cells has proved particularly challenging for researchers. He stated that the most accepted, though controversial, marker for identifying Treg cells has been the FoxP3 transcription factor. However, this method renders the cells unsuitable for subsequent in vivo or in vitro functional studies. Another current method for isolating living Treg cells only yields approximately one-third to one-half of such cells, and may bias the functional results. The Centenary Institute/UCSF Diabetes Center research demonstrates that the CD4/CD25/CD127 triple-staining approach using the BD Biosciences CD127 antibody allows scientists to obtain viable Treg cells using flow cytometry.

"This novel approach for analyzing and isolating human regulatory T cells represents an exciting advancement that further underscores BD Biosciences’ commitment to developing new tools to further immune function research," said Bill Rhodes, President of BD Biosciences, Cell Analysis.