Figure 3.

Phenotypic changes of purified CD3⁺CD5^dimCD21⁻ cells during culture for 21 days. (A) CD3⁺CD5^dimCD21⁻ cells were purified from freshly isolated PBMCs using a cell sorter. The purity of CD3⁺CD5^dimCD21⁻ cells after sorting was more than 98% (n = 5). (B) Phenotypic analysis of the purified CD3⁺CD5^dimCD21⁻ cells during culture for 21 days. CD3⁻CD5⁻CD21⁻ cells were proliferated from purified CD3⁺CD5^dimCD21⁻ cells, and the majority of expanded cells in culture were CD3⁻CD5⁻CD21⁻ after 21 days. The phenotype of most of these expanded CD3⁻CD5⁻CD21⁻ cells was CD4⁻ CD8^+/− after 21 days of stimulation. The results shown are representative results from one of five different donors. (C) The rate of proliferation was calculated by counting the total number of viable cells in culture. Values represent the mean ± SD (n = 5).