Holden T. Maecker Author Answered Sep 4, 2017
Immunity, Transplantation & Infection, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford
Thanks for your interest in the protocol. You can use either CD3/CD28 or PMA/ionomycin to stimulate Th1, Th2, and Th17 cytokine secretion from T cells. The difference is that PMA/ionomycin will stimulate many more T cells, as well as NK cells, monocytes, etc. With CD3/CD28, a smaller fraction of T cells respond, and you may not see the more rare cytokines like IL-4.