Spectophotometric quantification of cell-cell adherence by an enzyme-linked immuno-cell adhesion assay

In the present study a spectophotometric method was developed to determine the number of T cells binding to human epidermal keratinocytes (KC). In this cell adhesion assay the adherent T cells were detected with a cell-specific monoclonal antibody conjugated to horseradish peroxidase and the coloured substrate quantified in an ELISA reader at 492 nm. A correlation was demonstrated between the number of T cells and the extinction values measured. The enzyme-linked immuno-cell adhesion assay (ELICAA) was used to quantify KC/T lymphocyte adherence in a series of experiments designed to evaluate its reliability and reproducibility. Compared with the 51Cr-labelled adherence assay, the ELICAA was a safe, rapid and accurate method avoiding the use of radioactive material.