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Updated: Jun 29, 2026
Comprehensive & Cost Effective Laboratory Monitoring of HIV/AIDS: an African Role Model
Published on: October 31, 2010
CD4 and CD8 enumeration for HIV monitoring in resource-constrained settings
Xiao Li1, Christian Breukers, Aurel Ymeti
1University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands.
Background:
We developed a volumetric single platform image cytometer (SP ICM) that is dedicated to count CD4(+) and CD8(+) T lymphocytes for HIV monitoring in resource-constrained settings. The instrument was designed to be low-cost, yet reliable, easy-to-use, and robust.
Methods:
Whole blood is incubated with CD3-magnetic nanoparticles, CD4-phycoerythrin (PE), and CD8-peridinin-chlorophyll-protein complex (PerCP). The CD3 cells are immunomagnetically attracted to an analysis surface, where fluorescence images of CD4(+) and CD8(+) T lymphocytes are recorded and analyzed, respectively. We compared CD4, CD8 counts, and CD4/CD8 ratio obtained by the SP ICM with those from a SP flow cytometer (FCM) tetraCXP method on blood samples from 145 patients.
Results:
Good correlations were obtained (R: 0.96-0.99) between the SP ICM and the SP FCM. There was approximately 10% CD8 undercount in the SP ICM, which could be partly caused by CD8(+dim) T lymphocytes that were not detected by the instrument or not counted by the image analysis due to the cross-talk from the CD4-PE signal in the CD8-PerCP image.
Conclusions:
The SP ICM is a good candidate for HIV monitoring in point-of-care settings of resource-constrained countries.
