The University of Arizona has received a USD 3.19 million R01 grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to develop a novel assay platform for deep profiling of CD4+ T cells, targeting a long-standing detection gap that limits the study of antigen-specific immune responses in infection, cancer, and aging.
The funded technology, called CATS (Coupling Assay for T cell Specificity), addresses a core limitation of conventional T cell detection: only roughly 25% of CD4+ T cells specific for a given antigen are detectable by standard approaches, due to the low affinity of their T cell receptors for cognate antigens. The award supports integration of CATS with TCR sequencing and molecular profiling to enumerate clonotypes, map signaling potential within polyclonal responses, and discriminate high- from low-affinity T cell populations. Proof-of-principle experiments will examine TCR specificity rules for peptide antigens versus MHC class II restriction, and age-associated shifts in CD4+ T cell responses to pathogenic infection. The research is preclinical, conducted primarily in mouse models.
Michael S. Kuhns and Evan Newell at the University of Arizona's Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Virology are leading the project, which runs through June 2030. The award reflects sustained NIAID investment in immunological tool development as a prerequisite for advancing T cell-based therapies across infectious disease, oncology, and autoimmunity.
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