Spleens were aseptically harvested from euthanized mice. forced through 70-μm cell strainers (BD) with the plunger from a 3 mL syringe (BD). Cells were washed twice in cold RPMI or PBS followed by 5 minutes centrifugation at 1800 rpm. Cells were finally resuspended in supplemented RPMI medium containing 10% fetal calf serum (FCS) as previously described (34 (link)). Cells were counted using an automatic Nucleocounter (Chemotec) and cell suspensions were adjusted to 2×105 cells/well for ELISA and 1–2×106 cells/well for flow cytometry. and serum collection.