Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 20, 2025
Purification and Expansion of Mouse Invariant Natural Killer T Cells for in vitro and in vivo Studies
Published on: February 15, 2021
The Expansion and Cytotoxicity Detection of Human iNKT Cells
Xue Cheng1, Xiaosheng Tan1, Rui Dou1
1Department of Immunology, School of Basic Medicine, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
Invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cell is a type of innate-like T cell subsets with both T and NK cell phenotype and functions. They recognize lipid antigens presented by CD1d molecules and can be specifically activated by alpha-galactosylceramide (α-GalCer) in vitro. After activation, iNKT cells expand efficiently and exert direct killing effects. Based on it, we mainly introduce the protocols of detection of human iNKT cell functions in vitro, including in vitro expansion and their cytotoxicity to tumor cells.
Invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cell is a type of innate-like T cell subsets with both T and NK cell phenotype and functions. They recognize lipid antigens presented by CD1d molecules and can be specifically activated by alpha-galactosylceramide (α-GalCer) in vitro. After activation, iNKT cells expand efficiently and exert direct killing effects. Based on it, we mainly introduce the protocols of detection of human iNKT cell functions in vitro, including in vitro expansion and their cytotoxicity to tumor cells.
