Coculture Experiment:
CD14+ monocytes were purified from PBMC by positive selection with antibody-coated microbeads (Miltenyi Biotec) and cultured in R-10 with IL-4 (50 ng/mL, R&D Systems) and GM-CSF (100 ng/mL, PeproTech). After 5 d, TNF-a (10 ng/mL, R&D Systems) was added to activate DCs.
On day 7, naive (aqua-CD3-CD4-CD25-CD27-CD45RO-) or central memory (aqua- CD3-CD4-CD25-CD27-CD45RO-) cells were purified by FACS sorting and cocultured at a ratio of 50:1 with autologous DCs in X-Vivo 15 serum-free media (Lonza). Cells were then cultured for 7 d before restimulation with phorbol-12- myristate-13-acetate (20 ng/mL, Calbiochem) and ionomycin (1 µM, Calbiochem) in the presence of Brefeldin A (10 µg/mL, Sigma) for 6–12 h. Intracellular cytokine staining was then performed.