Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. The marriage between immunology and cytometry is one of the most stable and productive in the recent history of science. It might be stated that, after a short engagement, the exchange of the wedding rings between immunology and cytometry officially occurred when the idea to link fluorochromes to monoclonal antibodies came about. After this, recognizing different types of cells became relatively easy and feasible not only by using a simple fluorescence microscope, but also by a complex and sometimes esoteric instrument, the flow cytometer that is able to count hundreds of cells in a single second, and can provide repetitive results in a tireless manner.
Given this, the possibility to analyse immune phenotypes in a variety of clinical conditions has changed the use of the flow cytometer, which was incidentally invented in the late s to measure cellular DNA by using intercalating dyes, such as ethidium bromide. As a consequence, the development of flow cytometers that had to be easy-to-use in all clinical laboratories helped to widely disseminate this technology.
Nowadays, it is rare to find an immunological paper or read a conference abstract in which the authors did not use flow cytometry as the main tool to dissect the immune system and identify its fine and complex functions.
Of note, recent developments have created the sophisticated technology of mass cytometry, which is able to simultaneously identify dozens of molecules at the single cell level and allows us to better understand the complexity and beauty of the immune system. However, the moon has a dark side. The main strengths of this technology, i. Not to mention the cases in which technical mistakes are performed, involving, among others, the use of in adequate controls, the lack of appropriate compensation, sorting strategies, or even the description of the methods used.
For this reason, the editorial team of the European Journal of Immunology feels it is worthwhile to offer our community guidelines for the correct use of cytometric techniques in the field of immunology. Thus, starting at the European Congress of Immunology ECI in Vienna Austria and under the guidance of Professor Andreas Radbruch, we asked colleagues and friends, all renowned in this field, to contribute by sharing their knowledge in their particular areas of expertise, in order to present a collection of protocols of great interest.
