Application of the cytokine ELISPOT assay
The cytokine ELISPOT has been successfully used across several disciplines of Immunology. In organ-transplantation, these assays can monitor the frequency and profile of circulating donor-reactive T cells. In cancer research, cytokine ELISPOTs have been used to measure CTL activity; in infectious diseases and vaccine development, these assays have been used to measure memory responses; and in autoimmune diseases, the sensitivity of these assays has been shown to be very useful in detecting autoreactive cells which typically occur at low frequencies (Figure 2).