What Are CD4 Helper T Cells? CD4 T Cell Functions and Isolation Methods

The innate immune system and the adaptive immune system are the two major categories of the human immune system. When the immune system is called to act in an effort to contain the spread of pathogens, the innate immune system is made up of a variety of physical, chemical, and cellular responses to pathogens that spring into action, providing general and non-specific first-line defense.

The adaptive immune system, on the other hand, is a type of acquired immunity that has been designed to recognize, react to, and respond to specific antigens.

The immune processes that allow our bodies to fight infection and disease are carried out by a large number of cells. T lymphocytes are one of the main cell types that help the adaptive immune system mediate cellular immunity. CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes make up the majority of T lymphocytes. For CD4+T cell enrichment, one must look for the method which is fast, less expensive and results in higher purity.

CD4+ cells are among the first to detect and alert the body to the presence of harmful substances. These white blood cells are also known as helper T cells because they assist other cells in performing their functions.

CD4 Cells Function in the Immune System

CD4+ T cells aren’t directly responsible for destroying harmful pathogens or neutralizing infections in the body. Instead, these helper T cells release chemicals that activate the immune system. Different immune cells will be activated to deal with the threat depending on the specific cytokines released by the CD4+ cell.

Although these cells do not fight the infection directly, their ability to identify pathogens allows other cells to do so. CD4+ cells are also important for suppressing the immune response after it has ended.

Research Purposes for CD4 Helper T Cells

On top of being a necessary component to the bodily immune response, CD4+ T Cells are also valuable outside of the body for research and diagnostics. By studying isolated CD4+ lymphocytes, scientists can gather information about the patient they came from and study the immune response.

A CD4+ count is a simple blood test that estimates the number of healthy, functioning helper T cells in one cubic millimeter of blood. The average cell count in a healthy adult is between 500 and 1500 cells per cubic milliliter. Significant changes in this number may indicate immune system problems, such as the presence of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

Isolated CD4+ cells are also used in lab studies to see how the immune system reacts to different diseases and treatments. Simulating harmful pathogen exposure with a CD4+ culture can reveal potential therapeutic approaches that may be effective in combating specific infections. These experiments may pave the way for more specialized treatment in the future, which will improve patient outcomes.

Isolating CD4 Lymphocytes with Traditional Cell Separation Methods

Isolating T cells is an important step in many different types of cellular research. External factors, such as unwanted cell populations, must be eliminated in order to conduct experiments properly. Otherwise, these additional variables may have an impact on the outcome and skew the results further down the line.

There are a variety of cell separation techniques and approaches to choose from. Using one method or the other may be more beneficial depending on the specifics of a given experiment. Some of the more commonly used methods are as follows:

Magnetically activated cell sorting (MACS)
Fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS)
Density-gradient centrifugation
Buoyancy activated cell sorting (BACS)

Each has its own set of benefits and drawbacks when it comes to enriching samples for CD4+ T cells.

How do Pluribeads work?

The flow-through is free of antibody-bound beads and can be used to enrich positive or negative cells even further. The cell enrichment with pluriBead can be performed without the need for whole blood preparation. When cells are isolated directly from whole blood, the contamination with unbound cells, particularly platelets or erythrocytes, is very low. Positive separation is faster, less expensive, and produces higher purity.

PluriBead cell isolation binds via specific antibodies directly to the cells of interest. The targeting antibody will “touch” the cells. After isolation by using pluristrainers, one of the best Lab Cell Strainers, with a mesh size smaller than the pluribeads, the target cells can be detached from the beads by cleavage between the pluribead and the antibody. The antibody is still present on the cell membrane.

Key features of Pluribead

Any sample material can be used, including whole blood, buffy coat, PBMC, secretion/excretion material, brain homogenate, spleen, liver, and so on.
High Range of Species: Isolate from mouse, rat, bovine, human, canine, sheep, and more
Fast Isolation: Starting from 5 minutes
Isolation with Care: A high yield of viable cells reduces the number of samples required.
Universal pluriBeads: For use with any secondary antibody generated in different species.
Simultaneous Cell Isolation with pluriBead Cascade
Separate two different cell types from the same sample material at the same time.
Sequential Cell isolation: Isolate up to six different targets from one sample
There are two different bead sizes to choose from: The first one is S-pluriBead which is recommended for a small number of targets in a large sample volume (e.g. CTC). The other one is M-pluriBead which is recommended for a large number of targets in small materials (e.g. buffy coat)
Suitable for all kinds of targets: Cell culture, Proteins, Viruses, Whole blood, Bacteria, RNA / DNA

PluriStrainer

The PluriSelect cell strainer – PluriStrainer is a sterile sieving device that can be used to obtain true single-cell suspensions or remove cell aggregates. It can also be used in conjunction with a Connector Ring (41-50000-03) to support filtration using low pressure. PluriStrainers can be stacked for direct filtration with a variety of mesh sizes. The sieved material can be recovered by inverting the PluriStrainer. It can be used in conjunction with a funnel for large sample volumes. It will fit into any conical (50 mL) centrifuge tube.

This quick, simple, and extremely gentle protocol significantly reduces overall sort times while preserving CD4+ T cell health and physiology. We’d love to hear from you if the fast, easy, and gentle PluriBeads workflow could benefit your Human CD4+ T cell enrichment workflows. This technology will assist you in overcoming long-standing sample preparation issues.

Visit our website to learn more about how our extensive product line can assist you in developing a workflow that maximizes results by allowing you to isolate a highly purified population of healthy CD4+ T cells for your application.

Reference:

Medical News Today

NCBI

Science Direct