Quantification of Complement Receptor 2 Calcium Signaling Enhancement Using Flow Cytometry

The complement receptor 2 (Cr2 ) gene is exclusively expressed in B cells and follicular dendritic cells (FDC) in mice and in humans. CR2 is a receptor for the complement component 3 (C3) cleavage fragments C3d(g) and iC3b. On B cells CR2 acts as the B cell co-receptor in which ligand binding of CR2 effectively lowers the threshold for B cell activation. This protocol describes methods for the functional analysis of calcium signaling enhancement provided by CR2 co-receptor activity.