Immune Monitoring of Cancer Patients by Multi-color Flow Cytometry

Shi Yong Neo1, Aine O'Reilly1, Yago Pico de Coaña2

  • 1Department of Oncology-Pathology, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.

The irruption of immune-activating therapies to treat cancer has created a need for evaluating both the response and possible adverse events related to these novel treatments. Multicolor flow cytometry is a powerful tool that enables tumor immunologists to characterize the immune system of patients before and in response to immunotherapy. We present here a protocol for purifying human peripheral blood mononuclear cells and staining them with a set of six multicolor panels that allow for a thorough characterization of the immune system of healthy donors as well as patients that are undergoing treatments that may modify the immune system.

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