“…Anti-CD3 (IgG2a-clone ϫ 35; Immunotech-Coulter), anti-CD28 (IgG1; Becton Dickinson), and isotype-matched irrelevant mAbs (Becton Dickinson) as well as full-length synthetic HIV-1 Tat protein (86 aa, derived from the HIV-1 T cell line-tropic BH10 strain; Technogen, Caserta, Italy) (27) were resuspended in PBS containing 0.1% BSA (Sigma, St. Louis, MO). Forty-eight-well flat-bottom polystyrene plates (Costar, Cambridge, MA) were coated overnight at 4°C with anti-CD3, anti-CD28, isotype-matched irrelevant mAb (IgG1 and IgG2a; Immunotech-Coulter), Tat, BSA, used alone or in combination, at the concentrations indicated in the text.…”