T cell cytokine secretion after co-culturing with autologous whole B cells, CD24⁺CD38⁺-depleted B cells, or CD24⁺CD38⁺ B cells.

<p>Pure B cells and T cells were isolated from whole PBMCs through magnetic negative selection. Purified B cells were stained with anti-human CD24 and anti-human CD38 antibodies and sent for live cell sorting. The whole B cells, CD24⁺CD38⁺-depleted B cells, or purified CD24⁺CD38⁺ B cells were then co-cultured with autologous T cells in vitro at 1-to-1 ratio for 72h, after which T cells were further separated through magnetic selection into CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ fractions and cultured in the presence of plate-bound anti-CD3 antibody and cytokine capture beads for 6 days. N = 8 for each group. The cytokine productions from (A) CD4⁺ T cells and (B) CD8⁺ T cells were then measured by sensitive luminex assay. *: P< 0.05. **: P<0.01. ***: P<0.001. (Kruskal-Wallis one-way ANOVA and Dunn’s test).