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Updated: Apr 4, 2026
Flow Cytometric Characterization of Murine B Cell Development
Published on: January 22, 2021
Improved detection of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma by flow cytometric immunophenotyping-Effect of tissue
Bethany D Vallangeon1, Christy Tyer1, Beverly Williams1
1Department of Pathology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, 27710.
Background:
Flow cytometric immunophenotyping (FCI) is recognized as a rapid, sensitive, and accurate method for diagnosis of B-cell lymphomas. We observed that FCI failed to identify the clonal B-cell population in several cases of large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) when tissue samples were prepared by a commercially available mechanical tissue disaggregation method. We tested a manual tissue disaggregation method and compared it with the mechanical method.
Methods:
FCI findings from 51 cases of DLBCL processed with the mechanical tissue disaggregation method, 27 cases processed using the manual method, and 15 cases processed using a combination of both methods were compared. The histological and immunohistochemical findings in each case were reviewed.
Results:
FCI detected a clonal B-cell population in 88.9% of cases processed by the manual tissue disaggregation method, 66.7% of cases processed by a combination of the manual and mechanical disaggregation methods, and in 62.7% of cases processed solely by the mechanical tissue disaggregation method (P < 0.01 Fisher exact). Manual processing yielded positive FCI results in 81.8% of the nodal tissue samples and 93.8% of the extra-nodal tissue samples, whereas mechanical disaggregation was particularly inefficient in preserving large lymphoma cells from extra-nodal tissue: 71.4% of the nodal and 56.8% of the extra-nodal tissue samples processed by the mechanical method showed clonal B-cells by flow cytometry (P < 0.006, Fisher exact).
Conclusions:
The diagnostic yield of FCI in DLBCL can be significantly improved by utilizing a manual disaggregation method, particularly in extra-nodal tissue samples. © 2015 International Clinical Cytometry Society.
