Introduction of genes into primary murine splenic B cells using retrovirus vectors.

Primary murine splenic B cells can be cultured ex vivo and, following treatment with LPS, cytokines and/or CD40L proliferate, and undergo class switch recombination and terminal differentiation to become immunoglobulin-secreting plasmacytic cells. Methods are described here for introducing genes, encoding either normal or blocking forms of experimental proteins, into murine splenic B cells using retrovirus vectors. This makes it possible to study the effects of these proteins on late stages of B-cell development, including proliferation, class switch recombination, and plasmacytic differentiation.