Human Whole Blood and PBMC-Based Cytokine Release Assays

Cytokine release assays (CRAs) are essential in vitro assays for the de-risking of monoclonal antibody therapeutics prior to first-in-human studies. Here we provide performance data for the most popular control compounds in the most popular CRA formats: human whole blood and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Whole blood or PBMCs isolated from at least 3 donors were incubated for approximately 24 hours with either anti-CD3 (OKT3), Phytohemagglutinin (PHA) or PMA and Ionomycin in liquid phase. Levels of IFN?, IL-1?, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12p70, IL-13 and TNF? in plasma or cell culture supernatant assessed for levels of using the V-PLEX Proinflammatory Panel 1 Human Kit on the Meso Scale Discovery (MSD) platform.