Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) have the characteristics of concentrating various immune cells such as T cells, B cells, NK cells, monocytes, and dendritic cells while excluding large portions of blood such as RBCs, granulocytes and plasma. They are suitable for evaluation of rare cells such as antigen-specific T cells, and can be stored for long periods by cryopreservation. Due to these characteristics, PBMCs have attracted attention in recent years for various applications, including immunological study and vaccine development.
In general, PBMCs are separated and collected from fresh blood by density-gradient centrifugation. The layering of blood on density solutions, and the collection and washing of separated PBMCs are performed manually, requiring skilled operation techniques to obtain PBMCs of high quality and homogeneity. Furthermore, in order to obtain PBMCs that more closely reflect the in vivo state, it is necessary to have an operational system to carry out the process from blood collection to PBMC isolation in as short a time as possible. These points are extremely important to obtain accurate analytical results from studies using PBMCs.
For many years, we have been entrusted with PBMC isolations in clinical trials. We pick up blood samples from study sites, and highly skilled researchers conduct the PBMC isolation process at our GLP laboratory located in Itabashi, Tokyo. In addition to the standard process, we can utilize other simpler isolation devices such as Vacutainer CPT by BD, Leucosep tube by Greiner, and SepMate by STEMCELL Technologies.
With isolated PBMCs, we can conduct analysis by flow cytometry, ELISpot, and qPCR. In addition, we can conduct long-term storage (-80℃, -150℃, liquid nitrogen) for future studies. Examples of our analytical services using PBMCs are shown below.
