Beckman-Coulter's new San Diego-based Immunomics Operations currently offers a custom tetramer service as well as standard i·TAgs directed against HIV-1 Gag or Pol, and the melanoma MART-1 peptide. For custom tetramers, researchers provide an amino acid sequence and Immunomics synthesizes an i·TAg containing this peptide. According to Immunomics' marketing director Susan Gammon, i·TAg technology is unique in that it is "really the first technology available that allows you to measure specific populations of T cells." Gammon predicts that i·TAgs will prove most useful in viral, transplantation, and therapeutic cancer vaccine research. For example, i·TAgs could be used as an early predictive measure of transplant rejection, or to determine the efficacy of a treatment designed to boost the immune system's response to cancerous cells.
Markus Maeurer, professor of Medical Microbiology at the University of Mainz, Germany, uses i·TAgs extensively in his research. Initially, Maeurer quantified T-cell responses using indirect methods such ...
