Title: antibody-forming cell assay
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - antibody-forming cell assay
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.12880
Status: current

Definition
Assay that measures the humoral immune response mediated by the concerted actions of antigen-presenting cells, T lymphocytes, and B lymphocytes, generally by determination of murine primary IgM or IgG antibodies directed against the T-cell-dependent sheep red blood cell (SRBC) surface antigens after in vivo sensitization.

Note
Due to involvement of multiple cell populations in mounting an antibody response, the AFC assay actually evaluates several immune parameters simultaneously. It is considered to be one of the most sensitive indicator systems for immunotoxicology studies.

Related Terms
- B lymphocytes: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/12937
- IgG: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/13289
- IgM: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/13293
- T lymphocytes: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/13724
- antigen-presenting cells: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/12888
- immunotoxicology: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/13325

Source
- PAC, 2012, 84, 1113. 'IUPAC glossary of terms used in immunotoxicology (IUPAC Recommendations 2012)' on page 1124 (https://doi.org/10.1351/PAC-REC-11-06-03)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12880/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12880/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12880/xml

Citation: Citation: 'antibody-forming cell assay' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.12880
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Accessed: 2026-04-18T00:19:18+00:00