Activation status of B cells is critical for the effects exerted on T cells.

<p>B- and T cell cultures and subsequent intracellular staining were performed as explained in the legend of <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0088869#pone-0088869-g004" target="_blank">Figure 4</a>. The percentages of T cells producing TNF-α (A) and IFN-γ (B) after co-culture with indicated activated (+) or non-activated (–) B cell subsets is shown. In A and B the mean ± S.D. are depicted of pooled results from two identical replicate experiments (with at least triplicate technical replicates each) that produced similar data. The cytokine levels of indicated B- and T cell cultures (C) were determined from the supernatant using Luminex. Levels shown in C are the mean ± S.D. of pooled results from two identical replicate experiments (with at least triplicate technical replicates each). Statistically significant differences between the various culture conditions were calculated using a one-way ANOVA with Bonferroni post-hoc test. *p<0.05, ** p<0.01, *** p<0.001.