Tumor vaccine： The tumor antigens can be prepared as vaccine formulations by artificially synthesizing various forms of them, such as tumor cells obtained from patients, tumor-related proteins or peptides, and genes that express tumor antigens, and then combining them with adjuvants or using dendritic cells as delivery carriers. Once the vaccine enters the body, the tumor antigens are engulfed by DC cells and then processed and presented to T cells, activating the antigen-specific cytotoxic T cells to kill the tumor. The most ideal tumor-specific antigen is the neoantigen, which is generated by gene mutations in tumor cells and is not expressed in normal tissues. It can be presented on the cell surface and recognized by T cells after binding to MHC molecules.
The enzyme-linked immune spot assay (ELISpot) is a highly sensitive method commonly used in cellular immunology research. It is capable of detecting activated T cell subsets, as well as antibody-secreting cells and cytokine-secreting cells at the single-cell level. In vaccine research, ELISpot can be used for measuring vaccine efficacy by assessing the ability of T cell response (The secretion of IFN-γ).

Research case: The determination of IFN-γ stimulated by mCD3ε antibody in splenocytes by ELISpot.

The statistical histogram and plate view of IFN-γ determination. Splenocytes from C57BL/6 mice were seeded at density at 5.00×104-2.50×105/well. The number of spots indicates how much IFN-γ was produced by the splenocytes in response to stimulation with mCD3ε antibody, and indicates the immune cell activation levels.