Abstract
Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) tetramers can work as diagnostic tools to identify antigen-specific T cells in immunological research and monitoring. Here, we provide a general protocol for the production of MHC tetramer. We obtain highly pure N-terminal His-tagged HLA-A2 α chain and β2-microglobulin (β2m) to fold a monomer with a photocleavable peptide, which can exchange with an HLA-A2 presented peptide derived from influenza A virus. Further those monomers compose tetramer to stain antigen-specific CD8+ T cells. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Xiao C.C. et al. (2021).