Patent ID: 7709257

Claim:
An in vitro method of enhancing antigen-induced responsiveness of B cells in a population comprising: a) prepulsing a population of dendritic cells (DCs) with a selected antigen to obtain an antigen-prepulsed DC population; b) culturing the antigen-prepulsed DC population of a) with a population of T cells to obtain a T/DC/Ag cell population; c) prepulsing a population of B cells with the selected antigen followed by removal of the antigen to obtain an antigen-prepulsed B cell population (B-Ag); and d) co-culturing the T/DC/Ag cell population of b) with the B-Ag cell population of c), after at least about 24 hours of culturing in b), to obtain a T/DC+B-Ag co-culture under conditions permitting a B cell response; wherein the number of B cells producing antibody in the T/DC+B-Ag co-culture is greater than the number of B cells producing antibody in a co-culture in which the T cells were co-cultured with an antigen-prepulsed DC population for less than 24 hours prior to addition of antigen-prepulsed B cells; thereby enhancing antigen-induced responsiveness of B cells in a population.