Patent ID: 8080416

Claim:
A method for immortalizing B cells monoclonal for an antigen, comprising: (a) priming a population of dendritic cells with an antigen; (b) adding the antigen-primed dendritic cells of (a) to a cell culture comprising T cells and serum-free culture media; (c) priming a population of B cells with the antigen; (d) adding the antigen-primed B cells of (c) to the cell culture comprising T cells and antigen-primed dendritic cells of (b); (e) culturing the cell culture of (d) under conditions promoting production of antibodies by the antigen-primed B cells; (f) identifying B cells in the culture of (e) that are monoclonal for the antigen; and (g) isolating and immortalizing B cells identified in (f) that are monoclonal for the antigen.