Immune phenotyping in the peripheral blood

Scope of the method

The Method relates to
  • Human health
The Method is situated in
  • Basic Research
Type of method
  • In vitro - Ex vivo
This method makes use of
  • Human derived cells / tissues / organs
Specify the type of cells/tissues/organs
Peripheral blood mononuclear cells

Description

Method keywords
  • flow cytometry
  • peripheral blood mononuclear cells
  • immune cell phenotyping
  • fluorescence
Scientific area keywords
  • Immunology
  • Autoimmunity
  • human white blood cells
  • Disease
  • health
Method description

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) are isolated from the peripheral blood using Ficoll gradient centrifugation. The PBMC are then stained with fluorescently-labelled monoclonal antibodies directed against cell surface or intracellular proteins that can be used to identify specific immune cell subtypes. Hereby, T cell subpopulations, B cell subpopulations, NK cell subpopulations and monocytes can be discriminated.

Lab equipment

Flow cytometer

Method status
  • Published in peer reviewed journal

Pros, cons & Future potential

Advantages

Multi-parameter.

Modifications

Additional surface or intracellular markers can be added.

References, associated documents and other information

Associated documents

Organisations

University of Hasselt (UHasselt)
Biomedical Research Institute
Belgium