Abstract
Since the early 1990s, the measurement of cytokines has become an important tool to understand mechanisms of immunotoxicity as well as to identify and classify xenobiotics. During the past decade, several major scientific and technical developments have greatly increased the efficiency of measurement. Most of the current attention is focused on methods that allow the simultaneous measurement of many cytokines, be at the messenger ribonucleic acid level (microarrays) or at the protein level (Luminex-based assays). Next, during the last decade quantitative polymerase chain reaction methods have gained widespread use. Finally, intracellular cytokine staining has provided detailed and invaluable information on the immune responses. This chapter describes the most widespread techniques for measuring cytokines. In addition, it tries to suggest which technique may be the optimal choice for specific purposes.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Vandebriel RJ, Van Loveren H, Meredith C. Altered cytokine (receptor) mRNA expression as a tool in immunotoxicology. Toxicology 1998;130:43–67.
House RV. Theory and practice of cytokine assessment in immunotoxicology. Methods 1999; 19:17–27.
House RV. Cytokine measurement techniques for assessing hypersensitivity. Toxicology 2001;158:51–58.
Cohen MD, Schook LB, Oppenheim JJ, Freed BM, Rodgers KE. Symposium overview: alterations in cytokine receptors by xenobiotics. Toxicol Sci 1999;48:163–169.
House RV. Cytokine bioassays: an overview. Dev Biol Stand 1999;97:13–19.
Kinloch RA, Roller RJ, Wassarman PM. Quantitative analysis of specific messenger RNAs by ribonuclease protection. Methods Enzymol 1993;225:294–303.
Tymms MJ. Quantitative measurement of mRNA using the RNase protection assay. Methods Mol Biol 1995;37:31–46.
Duggan DJ, Bittner M, Chen Y, Meltzer P, Trent JM. Expression profiling using cDNA microarrays. Nat Genet 1999;21S: 10–14.
Eisen MB, Spellman PT, Brown PO, Botstein D. Cluster analysis and display of genome-wide expression analysis. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 1998;95: 14,863–14,868.
Ezendam J, Staedtler F, Pennings J, Vandebriel RJ, Pieters R, Harleman JH, Vos JG. Toxicogenomics of subchronic hexachlorobenzene exposure in Brown Norway rats. Environ Health Perspect Toxicogenomics 2004;112:782–7915.
Vandebriel RJ. Toxicogenomics (microarray technology). In: Vohr HW, ed. Encyclopedic Reference of Immunotoxicology. Berlin: Springer-Verlag; 2005, pp. 651–654.
Baken KA, Vandebriel RJ, Pennings JLA, Kleinjans JC, van Loveren H. Toxicogenomics in the assessment of immunotoxicity. Methods, in press.
Hamadeh HK, Bushel PR, Jayadev S, et al. Gene expression analysis reveals chemical-specific profiles. Toxicol Sci 2002;67:219–231.
Hamadeh HK, Bushel PR, Jayadev S, et al. Prediction of compound signature using high density gene expression profiling. Toxicol Sci 2002;67:232–240.
Ullerås E, Trzaska D, Arkusz J, et al. Development of the “Cell Chip”: a new in vitro alternative technique for immunotoxicity testing. Toxicology 2005;206:245–256.
Ringerike T, Ullerås E, Völker R, et al. Detection of immunotoxicity using T-cell based cytokine reporter cell lines (“Cell Chip”). Toxicology 2005;206:257–272.
Carson RT, Vignali DA. Simultaneous quantitation of 15 cytokines using a multiplexed flow cytometric assay. J Immunol Methods 1999;227:41–52.
Vignali DA. Multiplexed particle-based flow cytometric assays. J Immunol Methods 2000;243:243–255.
Czerkinsky CC, Nilsson LA, Nygren H, Ouchterlony O, Tarkowski A. A solid-phase enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISPOT) assay for enumeration of specific antibody-secreting cells. J Immunol Methods 1983;65:109–121.
Hutchings PR, Cambridge G, Tite JP, Meager T, Cooke A. The detection and enumeration of cytokine-secreting cells in mice and man and the clinical application of these assays. J Immunol Methods 1989; 120:1–8.
Suni MA, Picker LJ, Maino VC. Detection of antigen-specific T cell cytokine expression in whole blood by flow cytometry. J Immunol Methods 1998;212:89–98.
Mehta BA, Maino VC. Simultaneous detection of DNA synthesis and cytokine production in staphylococcal enterotoxin B activated CD4+ T lymphocytes by flow cytometry. J Immunol Methods 1997;208:49–59.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2007 Humana Press Inc., Totowa, NJ
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
Vandebriel, R.J. (2007). Cytokine Measurement Tools for Immunotoxicology. In: House, R.V., Descotes, J. (eds) Cytokines in Human Health. Methods in Pharmacology and Toxicology. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-350-9_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-350-9_2
Publisher Name: Humana Press
Print ISBN: 978-1-58829-467-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-59745-350-9
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols