Immunophenotyping by flow cytometry

[lotusbud]

Hello forum,
would anybody have updated information about Immunophenotyping by flow cytometry?
In particular, what is "normal" to appear, and what is not?
Thank you...

[Greg H]

Hey lotusbud!

My last BMB included flow cytometry, and I was able to actually get a copy of the report from the lab. Rather like a CBC, it included the population of each type of cell, and flagged the ones that were out of line.

I'm not smart about this, but I wonder whether the reference standard might vary from lab to lab and among the various brands of cytometers.

Take care!

Greg

[Hopeful]

Hi Greg,

Does your flow cytometry report include the actual reference standards? If so, could you post the reference ranges?

Thanks!

[Greg H]

Hi hopeful!

Unfortunately, no. I got numbers and flags, but not reference ranges.

My curiosity piqued, I did a little Googling on that topic. It appears to be really complex. I found one 2005 text with different ranges for various age groups, as well as different ranges for peripheral blood, vs. bone marrow aspirate, vs. bone marrow biopsy (not to mention lymph nodes and tonsils!). And there looks to be a little cottage industry surrounding producing research papers that developing reference ranges for every possible ethnicity and nationality.

Here's the 2005 paper (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cyto.990180304/pdf) that does have some reference ranges.

Good luck!

Greg

[lotusbud]

Thank you Greg.
I have tried to find out the info, but you are good!:)
It is very nice to see that it is normal to have a few "hits". In my old bone marrow biopsy they just listed the % but not the high or low or normal. What that does to a patient....
Indeed it seems to be a quickly developing field, so I suppose that there will be more info as the time goes by!
It is actually quite fascinating the intricate balance that keeps us all alive, more or less...