{"term":{"id":"12880","title":"antibody-forming cell assay","longtitle":"IUPAC Gold Book - antibody-forming cell assay","doi":"10.1351\/goldbook.12880","code":"12880","status":"current","initialism":"<em>initialism<\/em>: AFC","synonym":"<em>synonyms<\/em>: hemolytic plaque assay, Jerne plaque assay, plaque-forming cell (PFC) assay, AFC assay","definitions":[{"id":1,"text":"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.","notes":{"1":"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."},"links":[{"term":"B lymphocytes","url":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/terms\/view\/12937"},{"term":"IgG","url":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/terms\/view\/13289"},{"term":"IgM","url":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/terms\/view\/13293"},{"term":"T lymphocytes","url":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/terms\/view\/13724"},{"term":"antigen-presenting cells","url":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/terms\/view\/12888"},{"term":"immunotoxicology","url":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/terms\/view\/13325"}],"sources":["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)"]}],"altoutputs":{"html":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/terms\/view\/12880\/html","xml":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/terms\/view\/12880\/xml","plain":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/terms\/view\/12880\/plain"},"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","license":"The IUPAC Gold Book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA 4.0 International (https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/) for individual terms.","collection":"If you are interested in licensing the Gold Book for commercial use, please contact the IUPAC Executive Director at executivedirector@iupac.org .","disclaimer":"The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.","accessed":"2026-05-14T02:45:31+00:00"}}