Dextramer® Controls – Best Practices in Research Call for the Best Controls in Experiments

Controls eliminate confounding factors, distinguish signal from background, and help troubleshoot protocols

MHC Dextramer® Peptide Pool Negative Control

MHC Dextramer® Peptide Pool Negative Control Performance

MHC Dextramer® Peptide Pool Negative Control were used to stain multiple allele matched donor samples, which were then analyzed by flow cytometry. Representative flow charts show the very limited background staining observed with these reagents.

In addition, allele-specific differences in background staining are appreciated by comparing the beak shaped populations of CD8+ T cells weakly stained with either HLA-A*01:01 or HLA-A*03:01 MHC Dextramer® Peptide Pool Negative Control (upper left quadrant), with the more homogenously stained cell populations achieved with HLA-A*02:01 and HLA-B*07:02 MHC Dextramer® Peptide Pool Negative Control reagents.

Order Dextramer® Controls

Couple your Dextramer® reagents with the right positive and negative controls. Immudex offers a range of Dextramer® Positive and Negative Controls including the new MHC Dextramer® Peptide Pool Negative Control with fluorophore labelling (BV421, FITC, PE or APC) for your flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry experiments. MHC Dextramer® Peptide Pool Negative Control are listed in the table below, and other Dextramer® Positive and Negative Controls can be found in the webshop at the bottom of this page.

You can use the webshop below to order online. Alternatively, send an email to [email protected] specifying:

• Catalog number or desired MHC allele-peptide combination
• Fluorophore (BV421, FITC, PE, APC, or none)
• Test size (50,150, 500, 1000 tests). One test is 10 µl reagent and sufficient to stain 1–3 x 10⁶ lymphoid cells or 1–3 x 10⁵ clonal antigen-specific T cells

Don’t find a MHC Dextramer® Peptide Pool Negative Control for your desired allele? Please contact us and we will make it!

Dextramer® Controls

Depending on your experimental setup, you can select between Dextramer^® Negative Controls with MHC monomers presenting:

• a peptide pool (allele-specific MHC Dextramer® Peptide Pool Negative Control)
• an empirically derived peptide sequence (MHC I) known to give very low levels of background staining
• a peptide sequence unrelated to your experiment
• a CLIP peptide (MHC II)

Depending on your experimental setup, you can order Dextramer^® Positive Controls that:

• recognize epitopes derived from widespread human viruses (CMV, EBV, and Flu)
• carry three viral epitopes from CMV, EBV and Flu and are then pooled

*H2-Kb/SIYRYYGL (SIY) can be used as a positive and negative control depending on the mouse model. For example, in OVA mouse models, it can serve as a negative control reagent, while H-2KB/SIINFEKL is the positive control reagent [1,2].

*H2-Kb/SIYRYYGL (SIY) can be used as a positive and negative control depending on the mouse model. For example, this peptide is expressed in certain mouse models for tumors and recognized by CD8+ T cells expressing 2C TCR. Thus, it can be used as a positive control [4,5].

^{For custom MHC-peptide combinations, a one-time entry fee will be required to evaluate each unique peptide's ability to bind to the requested MHC allele using standardized peptide binding assays. If the refolding process is unsuccessful, only the entry fee will be charged as we will not be able to deliver a product to you. The entry fee for custom MHC I Dextramer® reagents is 385 EUR / 445 USD and the entry fee for custom MHC II Dextramer® reagents is 605 EUR / 710 USD.}

Dextramer® Custom Controls

Your experimental setup may require an MHC allele that is not listed in our catalog or different specificities. Our Custom Solutions and Services Team can ensure you have the right controls for your research. Just contact us.

BV421 is equivalent to Brilliant Violet™ 421, which is a trademark or registered trademark of Becton, Dickinson and Company or its affiliates, and is used under license. Powered by BD Innovation.