by Brice Ezzouaouy, Senior Product Manager, Beckman Coulter Life Sciences
Since the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, scientists have discovered more about the role of the immune system and cytokine-associated processes responsible for systemic immune reactions that are typical in patients with COVID-19.1 Flow cytometry is used to understand those processes at a single-cell level. It is the standard method used in immunology to characterize multiple phenotypic and functional parameters of single cells, including cytokine analysis.
Despite advances in flow cytometry instrumentation, reagents and analytical software, several challenges remain. Conjugated antibodies with improved brightness, stability and specificity are needed. They also need to have narrow excitation and emission spectra, so that different fluorochromes can be used in combination. That would enable scientists to analyze multiple parameters from one sample simultaneously. Low sensitivity also is a problem. Fluorescent conjugates can detect highly abundant markers accurately. But the biopharmaceutical industry also needs conjugated antibodies that are sensitive enough to precisely detect and quantify low-abundance markers. A further complication encountered with antibody-based methods, including flow cytometry, is that of non-specific binding of antibodies to Fc receptors expressed by multiple immune cell types.2
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