Staining Protocol for Superantigen-Induced Cytokine Production Studied at the Single-Cell Level

In order to get the full picture of the cytokine response generated by stimulation of various pathogens and superantigens in particular it is of crucial importance to collect data at various timepoints after stimulation. It is clear from those experiments performed that the production of the inflammatory and regulatory cytokines studied, differs in peak expression point and even cellular source depending on the time point studied (1 ,2 ). One other aspect of the importance of kinetics is that when one studies the cytokine profile of a human derived specimen, e.g., peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) the response varies between different donors both in number of cytokines produced, level of production as well as the kinetic of the response.