CD40-activation of human B cells

Antibody-independent effector functions of B cells, such as antigen presentation and cytokine production, have been shown to play an important role in a variety of immune-mediated conditions such as autoimmune diseases, transplant rejection and graft-versus-host disease. Therapeutic strategies, which interfere with B cell activation could therefore be a useful addition to the current immunosuppressive armamentarium. CD40 is one of the strongest activation stimuli for B cells. The aim of this study was to characterise the gene expression changes that occurr after B cell activation via CD40. Purified B cells isolated from PBMCs from four donors were compared to B cells which