Fig. 3.

Activated T cells in the presence of CXCL12 enhance the proliferation and enlargement of CD19⁺ cells from CLL patients. a CFSE-labeled PBMC from 12 CLL patients were pre-treated with CXCL12 (1 μg/ml) for 2 h and then transferred to a well with immobilized anti-CD3 mAb or the corresponding isotype control antibody. After 7 days of culture, cells were collected, stained with specific mAb for CD19 (PerCP) and then analyzed by flow cytometry. The figure shows the percentage of CD19⁺ CFSE^low cells of the total of CD19⁺ viable lymphocytes of each patient. b PBMC from 18 CLL patients were cultured as mentioned above, and after 7 days of culture, cells were washed and stained with specific mAb for CD19 (PerCP), and the forward scatter (size) of the CD19⁺ cell population was analyzed by flow cytometry. Large CD19⁺ cells were determinate as the CD19⁺ cells with forward scatter values over 600. The figure shows the percentage of large CD19⁺ cells of the total of CD19⁺ viable lymphocytes. c Representative histograms for forward scatter analysis of CD19⁺ are shown. The p values for the statistical analysis with the Wilcoxon’s signed rank test are shown in the figure. NS not statistically significant