Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 12, 2026

Isolation and Activation of Murine Lymphocytes
Published on: October 30, 2016
Shipment impairs lymphocyte proliferative responses to microbial antigens
R A Betensky1, E Connick, J Devers
1Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Abstract:
Lymphocyte proliferation assays (LPAs) are widely used to assess T-lymphocyte function of patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection and other primary and secondary immunodeficiency disorders. Since these assays require expertise not readily available at all clinical sites, specimens may be shipped to central labs for testing. We conducted a large multicenter study to evaluate the effects of shipping on assay performance and found significant loss of LPA activity. This may lead to erroneous results for individual subjects and introduce bias into multicenter trials.
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