Magnetic Bead-Based Enrichment of Murine MAIT Cells

Mucosal-associated invariant T cells (MAIT) are abundant in humans, comprising up to 40% of liver T cells and 10% of peripheral blood T cells. However, understanding MAIT cell biology is hampered by the fact that they are fundamentally rare in standard laboratory mouse strains, such as C57BL/6. The discovery of MAIT cell ligands and recent advances in MR1-tetramer technology has provided a means for detecting murine MAIT cells, but low frequencies still hinder precise characterization. Here we describe how to accurately isolate rare MAIT cells from murine lymphocyte populations using MR1-tetramer technology combined with magnetic bead enrichment. Isolated MAIT cells can be used for downstream characterization or functional analysis.