Depletion of TGF-β from fetal bovine serum

TGF-β is one of the key cytokines controlling immune responses. Measuring TGF-β from culture supernatants in vitro is an important index of immune function. However, fetal bovine serum (FBS) contains a high level of latent TGF-β that often hampers measuring T cell-derived TGF-β in culture using FBS-supplemented medium. In this report, we generated anti-latency associated peptide (LAP) monoclonal antibodies which cross-react with bovine LAP, and developed a protocol to deplete TGF-β from FBS. This provides the ability to reliably quantify TGF-β in vitro without relying on serum-free media which do not support growth of murine T cells.