Temporal Changes in Innate and Adaptive Immunity During Sepsis as Determined by ELISpot.

Background

The inability to evaluate host immunity in a rapid quantitative manner in patients with sepsis has severely hampered development of novel immune therapies. The ELISpot assay is a

Methods

Mice were made septic using sublethal cecal ligation and puncture (CLP). Blood and spleens were harvested serially and

Results

ELISpot confirmed a decreased innate and adaptive immunity responsiveness during sepsis progression. More importantly, ELISpot was also able to detect changes in adaptive and innate immunity in response to immune-modulatory reagents, for example dexamethasone, arginine, and IL-7 in a readily quantifiable manner, as predicted by the reagents known mechanisms of action. ELISpot and ELISA results tended to parallel one another although some differences were noted.

Conclusion

ELISpot offers a unique capability to assess the functional status of both adaptive and innate immunity over time. The results presented herein demonstrate that ELISpot can also be used to detect and follow the