The study was approved by

The study was approved by Doxorubicin mouse the University of Cape Town’s Faculty of Health Sciences Research Ethics Committee and informed written consent was obtained from all volunteers before the study was initiated. Cervical cytobrush samples were collected according to the protocol described by Nkwanyana et al. (2009). Briefly, cervical immune cells were collected from all women under speculum examination by inserting a Digene cervical sampler into the endocervical os, rotating 360° and immediately placing the cytobrush in 3 ml R10 [RPMI

1640 (GibcoTM) supplemented with 5 mM glutamine, fungazone, penicillin, streptomycin and 10% FCS (Delta Bioproducts)]. Cytobrush samples with visible blood contamination (11/215; 5%) or excessive mucous contamination (21/215; 10%) were excluded from further analysis. Phenotypic and functional assessments of cytobrush-derived T cells were conducted in the remaining 183 samples. Samples were transported between the clinic and laboratory

in temperature-controlled click here benchtop coolers. Upon arrival in the laboratory (≤ 4 h of collection), the cytobrushes were flushed ~ 30 times with the same 3 ml transport media using a sterile plastic disposable Pasteur pipette and 25 ul of the suspension was removed for ex vivo CD3+ T cell enumeration using a Guava automated cell counter. The samples were divided into four groups to evaluate alternative processing conditions. Group 1 cytobrushes (n = 113) were processed immediately and used for flow cytometry analysis of immune subsets by intracellular cytokine staining (function, n = 98, Group 1a) and surface staining (viability, n = 15; Group 1b; ex vivo cytobrushes). Group 2 cytobrushes (n = 27) were not processed immediately but incubated at 37 °C for 24 h prior to flushing cells off the brush

and analysed for GNAT2 phenotype and function. Similarly, processing of cytobrushes from Groups 3 (n = 5) and 4 (n = 25) was delayed for 24 h and during this time, cytobrushes were maintained at 4 °C (to mimic cold overnight transport) or room temperature (~ 20 °C; to mimic overnight transport without refrigeration). After removing cervical cells off the cytobrush by gentle flushing, cells were washed once in R10, counted, phenotyped, and functionally evaluated using a Guava cell counter or FACS Calibur flow cytometer (BD Biosciences, San Jose, CA), respectively. Cervical cytobrush cells were counted using an automated Guava cell counter according to the method described by Nkwanyana et al. (2009). CD3-PE (T cells; Guava technologies) was used to label T cells in each cytobrush samples which were then counted using a Guava Automated Cell counter. Briefly, 25 μl cytobrush cells were stained with pre-titrated CD3-PE monoclonal antibodies and incubated at 4 °C for 30 min. Cells were washed with 1 ml wash buffer (1% FCS PBS) and centrifuged at 1500 rpm (437 ×g) for 5 min.

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