Research Scientist
Department of Neurology
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Dallas
This set is useful to analyze the T cell receptor (TCR) Vβ gene usage and respective expression of the TCR molecules on mouse T lymphocytes. The TCR Vβ Screening Panel contains a set of fifteen different monoclonal antibodies: Vβ2, Vβ3, Vβ4, Vβ5.1/5.2, Vβ6, Vβ7, Vβ8.1/8.2, Vβ8.3, Vβ9, Vβ10b, Vβ11, Vβ12, Vβ13, Vβ14, and Vβ17a. These antibodies are FITC conjugated and already pre-diluted. One kit contains sufficient antibodies for 50 tests of all the included antibodies.
Mouse T cells were directly stained using 20 μl of the respective Vβ antibodies for 106 cells/sample in combination with a differently labeled antibody (PE, PerCP, or APC, not included in the kit) for further identification of whether the TCR is expressed on CD4 or CD8 T cells, or to analyze allelic differences in a given sample such as TCR expression on CD45.1 positive and CD45.2 positive or CD90.1 positive and CD90.2 positive T cells, respectively. The cells were stained according to standard procedures and analyzed for cell surface expression of the analyzed molecules by flow cytometry.
Of note: The antibodies included in this set do not equally stain cells from all mouse strains. It is highly recommended to see which antibodies are useful for the mouse strain you are interested in before you start, e.g. the Vβ17a antibody (clone KJ23) included in this kit reacts only with the TCR Vβ17a molecule of mouse strains of the TCR a haplotype (C57L, SJL, SWR). In other strains, this particular Vβ gene is not functional or even deleted. On the other hand, the Vβ10b antibody (clone B21.5) included in this kit does react with most mouse strains except C57L, SJL, SWR. However, most of the antibodies react with the commonly used mouse strains C57BL6, C3H, SJL, Balb/c and this kit is, therefore, very useful.