STAT3 Signaling Induces the Differentiation of Human ICOS+ CD4 T Cells Helping B lymphocytes
Figure 1
IL-6, IL-12 and IL-27 promote the differentiation of CD4 T cells helping B cells.
A) Naive cord blood CD4 T cells were primed with plate bound anti-CD3 (5 µg/ml) and soluble anti-CD28 (1 µg/ml) mAbs during 72 hours in the presence of supernatant from immature moDCs activated with LPS, Poly(I∶C) or incubated with medium alone. T cells were then thoroughly washed before T/B co-culture to avoid potential carry-over effect of the DC supernatants and were incubated with anti-CD3 mAb and heterologous B cells before measuring Ig production. B) Experiments were performed as in (A) except that anti-IL-6, anti-IL-12 or control mAbs (10 µg/ml) were added to DC culture supernatants before CD4 T cell priming. C) Experiments were performed as in (A) except that recombinant cytokines were used instead of DC culture supernatants. D) Experiments were performed as in (C) except that TSST was used in the T/B co-culture instead of anti-CD3 mAb. Data are mean ± SEM of triplicates from one representation of 3 (A), of 4 (B) or 6 (C and D) independent experiments on different donors. FI/None: fold increase as compared to no cytokine. *p<0.05, **p<0.01 and ***p<0.001 as determined by paired Wilcoxon signed-rank test (A, C and D) or paired Student's t-test (B).