Regulatory T cells (Treg) possess immunosuppressive function and play an important role in maintaining a balance between tolerance to self-antigens and anti-infectious or anti-tumor immune system activity.
The EpiTest Treg assay measures Treg cells in peripheral blood, tissue, and biopsy samples. The assay target is the demethylation of a region within the foxp3 gene - an epigenetic marker that is highly specific for Treg cells and is not observed in any other leukocyte cell type. In contrast, other currently employed assays rely on protein markers that are not uniquely expressed in Treg cells (e.g. CD25, CD4, Foxp3, all of which are also expressed in activated effector T cells).
The assay is based on methylation-sensitive real time PCR, and can be perfomed with minute amounts of DNA from blood or tissue samples making retrospective studies with previously frozen samples possible. Due to both the excellent Treg cell specificity of foxp3 gene demethylation and the performance of the PCR-based assay, the EpiTest Treg assay provides a very reliable, sensitive, and accurate measurement tool.
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