Evaluation of B Cell Function in Patients with HIV

Abstract HIV disease is associated with abnormalities in all major lymphocyte populations, including B cells. B cell dysfunction in HIV infection is largely driven by alterations in the subsets of B cells that circulate in the blood or reside in tissues. Meaningful functional assays are thus dependent on the identification and isolation of B cell subsets present in the starting material. This unit describes several assays designed to phenotype, fractionate, and assess functional properties of B cells that circulate in the blood of HIV‐infected individuals. The four protocols, which have been adapted from standard techniques, are tailored to evaluate B cells in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of individuals infected with HIV, but can also be applied to other disease settings and PBMCs isolated from healthy individuals. Curr. Protoc. Immunol . 100:12.13.1‐12.13.18. © 2013 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.