Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 18, 2026
Rapid Quantification of Mitogen-induced Blastogenesis in T Lymphocytes for Identifying Immunomodulatory Drugs
Published on: December 27, 2016
Methodological Insights Into T-Cell Activation: CD3/CD28 Versus PMA/Ionomycin Stimulation
Nekruz Abdulhaqov1,2, Lady Tatiana Albarracin Melo1, Ines Meinert1
1Medical Faculty, Institute for Clinical Immunology and Cell Therapeutics, Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany.
None:
PMA/ionomycin and CD3/CD28 stimulation induce fundamentally distinct signaling programs in primary human T cells. While CD3/CD28 stimulation activates both ERK and IL-2/STAT5 signaling pathways, PMA/ionomycin induces predominantly ERK-dependent proliferation despite robust IL-2 production and CD25 upregulation. These findings highlight important mechanistic and methodological differences between pharmacological and receptor-mediated T-cell activation.
