All living organisms are continuously exposed to substances that are capable of causing them harm. While a normal functioning immune system is able to protect and defend the body against foreign organisms and substances, defects can become manifest in a variety of disorders, e.g., infections, inflammations, allergic or autoimmune reactions, and malignant diseases. Therefore, it is of great interest to identify agents with the potential to treat (auto)immune disorders. Our in-vitro test systems have been established on primary human leukocytes, whereby various subpopulations derive from human peripheral blood by density gradient centrifugation:

Primary Leukocytes:

• Granulocytes
• Monocytes
• Dendritic Cells
• CD4-Lymphocytes: TH1 or TH2-Lymphocytes
• CD8-Lymphocytes
• Natural Killer Cells

• Cytotoxicity Assay (Immune versus Tumor cells)
• Migration Assay
• Proliferation Assay
• Apoptosis Assay
• Release of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS production)
• Cytokine secretion
• Intracellular analysis of cytokines by flow cytometry
• Leukotrine B4 secretion
• Cell surface antigen expression determined by flow cytometry