Description
The goal of this study was to identify the molecular characteristics and putative markers distinguishing IL-10eGFP+CD138hi and IL-10eGFP-CD138hi plasmocytes. To this end, IL-10eGFP B-green mice were challenged intravenously with Salmonella typhimurium (strain SL7207, 10e7 CFU), and IL-10eGFP+CD138hi as well as IL-10eGFP-CD138hi plasmocytes were isolated from the spleen on the next day. For this, single cell suspensions were prepared, cells were treated with Fc block (10 g/ml, anti-CD16/CD32, clone 2.4G2), and then stained with an antibody against CD138 conjugated to PE (1/400; from BD Pharmingen) followed by incubation with anti-PE microbeads (Miltenyi Biotech). CD138+ cells were then enriched on Automacs (Miltenyi Biotech) using the program possel_d2. Cells were then stained with anti-CD19-PerCP, anti-CD138-PE, and antibodies against CD11b, CD11c, and TCR conjugated to APC as a dump channel to exclude possible contaminants. DAPI was added to exclude dead cells. Live IL-10eGFP+CD138hi and IL-10eGFP-CD138hi cells were subsequently isolated on a cell sorter. The purity of the samples was always above 98%. This led to the identification of LAG-3 as a cell surface receptor specifically expressed on IL-10eGFP+CD138hi cells but not on IL-10eGFP-CD138hi cells.