Th9 Polarization of Mouse CD4⁺ Cells Protocol

 

Reagent List

Sterile PBS Cell culture medium (IMDM supplemented with 10% FBS) Sterile plastic petri dishes RBC Lysis Buffer (Cat. No. 420301) Anti-mouse CD3ε, clone 145-2C11 (Ultra-LEAF™ format, Cat. No. 100339) Anti-mouse CD28, clone 37.51 (Ultra-LEAF™ format, Cat. No. 102116) Mouse MojoSort™ CD4 T-cell Isolation Kit (Cat. No. 480005)

Anti-mouse IFN-γ, clone XMG1.2, (Ultra-LEAF™ format, Cat. No. 505834) Recombinant mouse IL-2 (carrier-free) (Cat. No. 575402) Recombinant mouse IL-4 (carrier-free) (Cat. No. 574302) Recombinant human TGF-β1 (carrier-free) (Cat. No. 781802) Monensin Solution (Cat. No. 420701) PMA (Phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate) (Cat. No. P8139 from Sigma) Ionomycin (Cat. No. I0634 from Sigma)

Protocol Steps

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Isolation of CD4⁺ Cells From Lymph Nodes:

1. Harvest lymph nodes (superficial cervical, mandibular, axillary, inguinal, and mesenteric) from mice.  


2. Tease lymph nodes through a sterile 70-µm nylon cell strainer to obtain single-cell suspensions in complete IMDM containing 10% FCS (complete medium).  


3. Resuspend cells in complete medium and use your favorite method to isolate CD4⁺ cells. Consider using our MojoSort™ Mouse CD4 T Cell Isolation Kit  

 

Th9 Polarization of CD4⁺ Cells:

4. On day 0, coat 60 x 15mm of plastic petri dishes with anti-mouse CD3ε, clone 145-2C11 (5µg/ml). Incubate at 37°C for 2 hours or 4°C overnight. Aseptically decant antibody solution from the plate. Wash plate 3 times with sterile PBS. Discard liquid.  


5. Plate CD4+ cells at 10 x 10⁶/5 ml/dish. Culture cells for 3 days in the presence of anti-mouse CD28, clone 37.51 (5µg/mL), recombinant human TGF-β1 (10ng/mL), recombinant mouse IL-4 (10ng/mL), recombinant mouse IL-2 (20ng/ml), and anti-mouse IFN-γ, clone XMG1.2 (10µg/mL).  


6. On day 3, wash cells once and then restimulate in complete medium with 500ng/ml PMA and 500ng/mL ionomycin, in the presence of monensin for 6 hours.  


7. After harvesting, the cells are ready for staining.
   Note: Recombinant human TGF-β is effective for stimulating mouse cells.