Cross-reactivity of T cell-specific antibodies in the bank vole (Myodes glareolus)

The bank vole is a common Cricetidae rodent that is a reservoir of several zoonotic pathogens and an emerging model in eco-immunology. Here, we add to a developing immunological toolkit for this species by testing the cross-reactivity of commercially available monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to the bank vole lymphocyte differentiation molecules and a transcription factor. We show that a combination of mAbs against CD4, CD3, and Foxp3 allows flow cytometric distinction of the main subsets of T cells: putative helper CD4+, cytotoxic CD8+ (as CD3+CD4-) and regulatory CD4+Foxp3+. We also provide a comparative analysis of amino acid sequences of CD4, CD8αβ, CD3εγδ and Foxp3 molecules for a number of commonly studied Cricetidae rodents and discuss mAb cross-reactivity patterns reported so far in this rodent family. We found that in case of mAbs targeting the extracellular portions of commonly used T cell markers, sequence similarity is a poor prognostic of cross-reactivity. Use of more conserved, intracellular molecules or molecule fragments is a more reliable approach in non-model species, but the necessity of cell fixation limit its application in, e.g. functional studies.