Cell mediated immune response assay

1. A method of increasing the sensitivity by which IFN-γ in a composition is detected by increasing the level of the production of IFN-γ by T cells responding to an antigen, comprising:

(a) adding a sample comprising T-cells and obtained from a human subject previously exposed to the antigen to a sample collection vessel that contains the antigen and a non-reducing disaccharide, thereby generating a mixture comprising the sample, the antigen and the non-reducing disaccharide,

wherein the antigen is from a pathogenic or infectious agent, and

wherein the non-reducing disaccharide is trehalose or sucrose;

(b) incubating the mixture generated in step (a) under conditions and for a time sufficient to allow stimulation of the T-cells by the antigen and production of IFN-γ, thereby generating an incubation composition; and

(c) detecting a presence or level of IFN-γ production in the incubation composition generated in step (b), wherein the level of IFN-γ production by the T-cells in the incubation composition is increased relative to the level of IFN-γ production by the T-cells in the sample incubated with the antigen in the absence of the non-reducing disaccharide, thereby increasing the sensitivity by which the IFN-γ in the composition is detected;

wherein at least one of (i)-(iv) is true:

(i) the antigen comprises one or more peptides from a protein of the pathogenic or infectious agent wherein the one or more peptides have a length selected from (a) 5 to 100 amino acids and (b) 7 to 50 amino acids;

(ii) the antigen comprises at least two sets of peptides that comprise all or part of a protein antigen of the pathogenic or infectious agent, a first set comprising at least one peptide of the protein antigen of from about 7 to 14 amino acid residues in length and a second set comprising at least one peptide of the protein antigen of at least 15 amino acid residues, wherein the peptides comprise amino acids that span all or part of the protein antigen;

(iii) the antigen comprises one or more peptides of (i) or (ii) that are recognized by a CD8 + cytotoxic T-cell; and

(iv) the antigen comprises one or more peptides that are recognized by a CD8 + cytotoxic T-cell, and the one or more peptides (1) are from a protein of the pathogenic or infectious agent, and (2) have a length of less than 15 amino acids or have a length selected from 7-14 amino acids.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the non-reducing disaccharide has a concentration in the incubation composition of at least 1.5 mg/ml or at least 2 mg/ml.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mixture generated in step (a) further comprises an anticoagulant, and wherein the sample is a whole blood sample.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein

i) the human subject is immunosuppressed or immunodeficient;

ii) the sample further comprises immune cells selected from the group consisting of NK-cells, B-cells, dendritic cells, macrophages and monocytes; or

iii) the sample is whole blood.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein

(i) step (a) comprises contacting the sample with at least two different antigens,

(ii) step (c) comprises detecting, in addition to the IFN-γ production by T-cells, the production of another cytokine by T-cells, or

(iii) step (a) comprises contacting the sample with at least two different antigens, and step (c) detecting, in addition to the IFN-γ production by T-cells, the production of another cytokine by T-cells.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein

i) the antigen is from a pathogen that is a bacterium, a virus, a parasite, yeast or a fungus;

ii the antigen is from a bacterium selected from Gram positive and Gram negative organisms, a Mycobacterium species, Mycobacterium tuberculosis , a Staphylococcus species, Streptococcus species, a Salmonella species, a Clostridium species, a Shigella species, a Proteus species, a Bacillus species, a Hemophilus species, and a Borrelia species;

iii) the antigen is from a virus selected from Hepatitis virus, Hepatitis B virus, Hepatitis C virus, Herpes virus, CMV virus, and Human immune deficiency virus (HIV); or

iv) the antigen comprises one or more peptide fragments of an antigenic protein encoded by a pathogenic virus, the one or more peptide fragments having a length of 7 to 14 amino acid residues, 7 to 13 amino acid residues, or 8 to 12 amino acid residues, wherein the virus is optionally cytomegalovirus (CMV).

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

(a) the sample comprises a whole blood sample from the human subject; and

(b) the step of incubating is for at least 2 hours.

8. The method of claim 3 , wherein the anticoagulant is heparin.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the non-reducing disaccharide is sucrose.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein the non-reducing disaccharide is trehalose.