Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 4, 2026
A Semi-automated Approach to Preparing Antibody Cocktails for Immunophenotypic Analysis of Human Peripheral Blood
Published on: February 8, 2016
Establishment of harmonization in immunophenotyping: A comparative study of a standardized one-tube
Insights
Harmonizing multiparameter flow cytometry (MFC) procedures, rather than strict standardization, yields comparable results for leukemia and lymphoma identification. This flexible approach improves reproducibility in laboratory diagnostics.
Area of Science:
- Hematology
- Immunology
- Clinical Diagnostics
Background:
- Multiparameter flow cytometry (MFC) is crucial for leukemia and lymphoma diagnosis.
- Technical complexity of MFC leads to inter-laboratory variability.
- Standardized protocols aim to improve MFC reproducibility.
Purpose of the Study:
- Compare a standardized MFC protocol with a flexible harmonization approach.
- Assess reproducibility of MFC results using different antibody combinations.
- Evaluate the feasibility of harmonized MFC procedures.
Main Methods:
- Evaluated Euroflow lymphoid screening tube (LST) panel markers on healthy and diseased patients.
- Used recommended and alternative monoclonal antibody (MoAb) combinations (different clones or dyes).
- Expressed results as percentages of positive target cells for each marker.
Main Results:
- Demonstrated excellent correlation between standardized and harmonized MFC methods.
- Achieved comparable diagnostic results through procedure harmonization.
- Confirmed the feasibility of harmonizing MFC protocols.
Conclusions:
- Harmonization offers a feasible alternative to strict standardization in MFC.
- Flexible harmonization allows scientists to achieve reproducible results without restrictive protocols.
- This approach enhances the adaptability of MFC in clinical laboratories.
Background:
Multiparameter flow cytometry has been increasingly used in the identification and characterization of leukemia and lymphoma. However, due to technical complexity, this method still presents some level of variation between laboratories. In an attempt to yield more reproducible results, restrictive, highly standardized procedures have been proposed. The objective of this work was to compare this standardized protocol to a more open and flexible procedure.
Methods:
The levels of expression of markers from the Euroflow lymphoid screening tube (LST) panel were evaluated on a population of both healthy and diseased patients using the recommended monoclonal antibody (MoAb) combinations or an alternative combination of either different MoAb clones or different dyes. Results were expressed as the percentages of positive target cells for each marker.
Results:
Our study shows excellent correlation between the two methods demonstrating that comparable results can be achieved through harmonization of the procedures rather than through the constraints of standardization.
Conclusion:
Our results demonstrate that the harmonization approach is feasible. This frees scientists from the restrictions imposed by a standardization approach.
