Plasma cell research

Application notes, protocols and a scientific poster for plasma cell research

• Multicolor flow cytometric analysis of B cell subsets from mouse spleen
• A standardized and reproducible method for expansion and activation of human primary B cells 
• Automated Isolation of CD138+ cells (application note)
• Increased sensitivity of flow cytometry for detection of minimal residual disease and circulating tumor cells in B Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma

Plasma cell separation

Generally, plasma cells have a very rare distribution in peripheral blood and are difficult to obtain from human bone marrow samples, which makes them particularly difficult to separate. Whether you require, purified populations separated by positive selection, two step protocols or separation directly from whole blood or bone marrow, MACS Technology has a solution for you.

StraightFrom® MicroBeads allow magnetic cell separation directly from human blood products, such as whole blood, buffy coat, leukoreduction system chambers (LRSCs) and leukopaks. CD19⁺ and CD138⁺ B cells can be purified using the autoMACS® Pro Separator, the MultiMACS™ Cell24 Separator Plus, or manual separators. For Plasma cell separations two products are available StraightFrom Whole Blood and Bone Marrow CD138 MicroBeads and StraightFrom® Whole Blood CD138 MicroBeads. For processing bone marrow samples we recommend our StraightFrom® Whole Blood and Bone Marrow CD138 MicroBeads to ensure the best performance.
 

Plasma cell culture

Plasma cells are present in peripheral blood in very low frequencies and are difficult to obtain from human bone marrow samples. Therefore, in vitro expansion is an ideal choice to increase plasma cell quantities; either to study their biology or analyze their antibody production and specificity.  

We have developed the B Cell Expansion Kit, human, for easy and enhanced expansion. The formulation offers the perfect solution to expand and activate human B cells from various sources. This enables expansion of B cells that are fully functional and ready for any downstream application. The culturing conditions provided by the B Cell Expansion Kit and IL-21 drives B cell differentiation towards a matured, switched status. B cells cultured with the kit and IL-21, instead of IL-4, demonstrated a significant increase in the plasma cell fraction. This way you can expand the Plasma cell population before separating plasma cells for further experiments. 
 

Reliable activation and expansion of Plasma cells is a definitive requirement for effective downstream experiments. The B Cell Expansion Kit, human is optimized for primary B cell expansion in vitro. With the use of human IL-21, premium grade a slight increase of the expansion rate can be detected on day 7 and 10.  

The B Cell Expansion Kit, human offers: 

• Up to a 10-fold expansion of B cells in vitro within 14 days
• Standardized and reproducible system 
   

Multiparameter flow analysis

As the final step in many workflows, flow analysis plays an important part in various B cell applications. The following flow reagents can help you make sure that the data you generate on your flow cytometer are reliable and consistent: 

• REAfinity™ Recombinant Antibodies – recombinantly generated antibodies that ensure lot-to-lot consistency and eliminate background signal
• MACSplex™ Cytokine Kits – analysis of multiple soluble cytokines in one sample using any standard flow cytometer
• Cytokine Secretion Assay – Detection Kits – flow analysis of cytokine secretion at a detection level of one in a million
• Build your own B cell flow panel with our Flow Panel Builder

Application protocol: Multicolor flow cytometric analysis of B cell subsets from mouse spleen