Figure 2.

Eosinophils enhance proliferation and CD25 expression of in vitro activated CD4 T-cells from healthy controls. Purified CD4⁺ T-cells from healthy subjects were activated with coated anti-CD3 and soluble anti-CD28 (1 μg/ml) antibodies for 48 hours, in absence and in presence of autologous IgA/anti-IgA activated eosinophils. Cells were then cultured for an additional 18 hours with H³-thymidine to assess proliferation (n=8) (2a), washed and stained with fluoro-conjugated antibodies for assessment of membrane CD25 expression by flow cytometry (n=6) (2b), or underwent brief re-stimulation with PMA and A23187 to assess intracellular cytokine expression (n=10) (2c).