Chapter 18. A chemokine-mediated in vivo T-cell recruitment assay.

The ability of chemokines to induce the migration of cells expressing their cognate G-protein-coupled receptor is a characteristic property of chemokine function. To study this important function, in vitro chemotaxis assays are most often used, which, although useful, lack many components of the complex in vivo trafficking process. Reliable in vivo recruitment assays have been very difficult to establish. We describe a robust in vivo T-cell recruitment assay for adoptively transferred T lymphocytes in mice. Instillation of the CXCR3 chemokine ligands IP-10/CXCL10 or I-TAC/CXCL11 into the airways results in robust recruitment of transferred T lymphocytes. The assay thereby models the natural environment of chemokine function, as chemokines are expressed in the airways during inflammation, inducing selective leukocyte homing. This assay is particularly useful for the analysis of chemokine and chemokine receptor mutants in structure function studies and for testing the in vivo efficacy of inhibitory chemokine and chemokine receptor antibodies and small molecule antagonists.