Dendritic cells (DCs) are powerful antigen-presenting cells that process exogenous antigens and present them to CD4+ and CD8+ T cells to generate immune responses. The presentation of exogenous antigens on major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules to CD8+ T cells is known as cross-presentation and is essential to induce antigen-specific responses of CD8+ T cells to fight infections and disease. Therefore, co-culturing DCs and CD8+ T cells is a valuable method for studying antigen presentation and T cell activation. Using co-cultured T cells, further studies can be conducted on the presentation of tumor antigens, T cell-mediated cytotoxicity, and memory T cell development. Such studies can help develop cancer treatments and vaccines that harness T cell functions to fight tumors and induce long-lasting immune memory for protection against cancer.

In this webinar, Dr. Catherine Ewen from STEMCELL Technologies will describe, in detail, how to set up DC and CD8+ T cell co-culture experiments that generate antigen-specific CD8+ T cells, and how to assess CD8+ T cell proliferation, functionality, and killing activity.

Key learning objectives:

• Learn how to use DC/CD8+ T cell co-culture to study the antigen-specific responses of CD8+ T cells, including their activation, proliferation, cytokine production, and cytotoxic killing activity.


• Explore the features of STEMCELL’s ImmunoCult™ Medium.


• Isolate antigen-specific cells with EasySep™ Release.