Figure 1. Autologous PBMCs function as potent stimulators to expand antigen-specific CD8+ T cells during short term in vitro culture.
PBMCs were stimulated with corresponding peptide-pulsed and irradiated autologous PBMCs at an effector:APC ratio of 1:1 with addition of cytokines IL-2 (10 IU/ml) and IL-15 (10 ng/ml). (A) Representative dot plots of flu, Melan-A and NY-ESO-1 antigen specific tetramers are shown at baseline (Day 0) and after in vitro stimulation (Day 10). (B) The stimulation index of tetramer-positive cells, calculated as the absolute number of tetramer-positive cells at the end of each stimulation over the number of tetramer-positive cells in the initial culture. The results represent three independent experiments and the error bars represent the standard error of the mean.