Gene expression profiling of human IL-10+ B-cells

Following combined stimulation through Toll-like receptor (TLR)-9 and the B-cell receptor (BCR), human B cells were sorted based on IL-10 expression. Microarray analysis showed that just ~0.7% of genes were differentially expressed between IL-10- and IL-10+ B-cells. However, connectivity map analysis revelaed that the IL-10+ cells were those undergoing differentiation to germincal centre B cells, and we identified a CD11c- B-cell subset that was enriched in cells capable of producing IL-10 B-cells were isolated using the Dynabeads Untouched Human B-cells kit, stimulated during 48 hours and then sorted based on IL-10 using secretion assay kit and cell sorter.