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Method Article

Functional Assessment of Antibody-Secreting B Cells Using ELISpot Assay

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July 8th, 2025

In This Article

Abstract

Source: Tzeng, S. J. The Isolation, Differentiation, and Quantification of Human Antibody-secreting B Cells from Blood: ELISpot as a Functional Readout of Humoral Immunity. J. Vis. Exp. (2016)

This video demonstrates the use of the ELISpot assay to assess the function of antibody-secreting B cells, ASCs. The antibodies secreted by the ASCs interact with the membrane-bound polyclonal antibody fragments, which are detected by the enzyme-conjugated IgG or IgM antibodies. The colored spot produced in each well indicates the presence of the specific antibody's isotype, which correlates with the B cells' secretory activity.

Protocol

All procedures involving human participants have been performed in compliance with the institutional, national, and international guidelines for human welfare and have been reviewed by the local institutional review board.

Human peripheral blood must be obtained from healthy donors under informed consent, and the use of blood samples must conform to the approved guidelines established by review boards. In this study, the protocol to use human blood in a demonstration of the results of flow cytometry (Figure 1) and ELISpot assays (Figure 2).

1. Isolation and Purification of ....

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Results

Flow cytometry diagram; cell population analysis; forward scatter, side scatter, CD27, CD38 markers.
Figure 1. Illustration of the Gating Strategy to Separate the Naïve B cells, Memory B cells, and PBs in the PBMCs. (A) Cells (2 x 106) were stained with 2 µg each of CD19-APC, CD27-eFluor450, and CD38-PE mAbs (step 3.4). The lymphoc.......

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Disclosures

No conflicts of interest declared.

Materials

List of materials used in this article
NameCompanyCatalog NumberComments
BD Vacutainer K2EBD Biosciences36752510 ml tube
Ficoll-Paque PlusGE Healthcare17-1440-02Endotoxin-free
Trypan blue 0.5% solutionBiological Industries03-102-1B
IMag Human B lymphocyte enrichment setBD Biosciences558007
Biotinylated CD27 mAbBiolegend302804Clone O323
Streptavidin magnetic microbeadsBD Biosciences9000810
15 ml Falcon tubesBD Falcon352196
Blue nylon mesh cell strainer, 40 μmBD Falcon352340
Anti-human CD19-APCBiolegend302212Clone HIB19
Anti-human CD27-eFluor 450eBioscience48-0279-42Clone O323
Anti-human CD38-PE-Cy7Biolegend303516Clone HIT2 
Anti-human CD38-PE-Cy7BD Biosciences560677Clone HIT2 
Anti-human CD45-FITCBiolegend304006Clone HI30
Anti-human CD45-FITCBD Biosciences555482Clone HI30
Anti-mouse/rat/human CD27-PerCP Cy5.5Biolegend124213Clone LG.3A10
Anti-human CD27-PerCP Cy5.5BD Biosciences65429Clone L128
Anti-human CD19-FITCMiltenyi Biotec130-098-064Clone LT19
Anti-human CD19-FITCGeneTexGTX75599Clone LT19
Anti-human CD20-FITCBD Biosciences555622Clone 2H7
Biotinylated anti-human CD27Biolegend302804Clone O323
Biotinylated anti-human CD27eBioscience13-0279-80Clone O323
7-aminoactinomycin D (7-AAD)BD Biosciences559925
CpG (ODN 2006) InvivoGentlrl-2006Type B CpG
Recombinant human IL-2PeproTech200-02
Recombinant human IL-10PeproTech200-10
Recombinant human IL-21PeproTech200-21
Recombinant human sCD40LPeproTech310-02
Protein A of&nbsp;<em>S. aureus</em>&nbsp;Cowan (SAC)Sigma-Aldrich82526
Pokeweed mitogen (PWM)Sigma-AldrichL9379
MultiScreen filter plates, 0.45 &micro;m pore sizeMerck MilliporeMSIPS4510Sterile, clear 96-well filter plate with hydrophobic PVDF membrane
BCIP/NBT solutionSigma-AldrichB6404
BCIP/NBT single reagent, alkaline phosphatase substrateMerck MilliporeES006
Human IgGJackson ImmunoResearch009-000-003
Human IgG, Fc fragmentJackson ImmunoResearch009-000-008
F(ab')2&nbsp;fragment of goat anti-human Ig (IgG+IgM+IgA)Jackson ImmunoResearch109-006-127
Goat anti-human IgG-alkaline phosphatase, Fc&gamma; fragment specificJackson ImmunoResearch109-055-008
Goat anti-human IgM-alkaline phosphatase, Fc&micro; fragment specificJackson ImmunoResearch109-055-095
Goat anti-human IgG-peroxidase, Fc&gamma; fragment specificJackson ImmunoResearch109-035-008
Goat anti-human IgM-peroxidase, Fc&micro; fragment specificJackson ImmunoResearch109-035-095
BD ELISPOT AEC substrate kitBD Biosciences551951
C.T.L. ImmunoSpot analyzerC.T.L.

Tags

B Cell ActivationPolyclonal Antibody FragmentsEnzyme-Conjugated Detection AntibodiesColorimetric SubstratesCpG ODN 2006RPMI MediumPBS WashBCIP/NBT Substrate