Natural Killer T (NKT) cells, a type of T cell that plays a significant role in immune response, produces a large quantity of INF- and IL-4 in response to glycolipids that presented by CD1d molecules. In recent years, NKT cells are reported to play a part in diabetes and tumor immunity. Therefore, a technology allowing quantitative measurement of CD1d-positive NKT cells would be a useful tool for immunology and clinical laboratory examinations.
The development of MHC Tetramer technology has provided a breakthrough in the ability to follow T cell populations defined by their antigen specificity. Tetramers have been used widely to obtain a detailed analysis of the　distribution and frequency of conventional CD4+ and CD8+ antigen-specific T cells during a variety of immune responses. T-Select Human CD1d Tetramer-PE is a reagent created by tetramerizing biotinylated Human CD1d/2m complexes with streptavidin labeled phycoerythrin (PE). -galactosylceramide (-GalCer), a glycosphingolipid originally isolated from marine sponges, appears to be presented by CD1d to activate both human and mouse NKT cells. -GalCer loaded T-Select Human CD1d Tetramer is a highly specific reagent for detection of NKT cells. Measurement can be performed using isolated lymphocytes/monocytes.