Inventive new way to profile immune cells in blood
Thursday, March 6, 2014 - 08:31
in Biology & Nature
The specific proportions of immune cells in a blood sample form a profile that can indicate disease or exposure to a toxicant. A new epigenetic technique provides a reliable way to detect such profiles, even in archived blood where whole cells may no longer be intact. All the current means of counting immune cells in a blood sample require whole cells, but the new system relies on something far less ephemeral: DNA. Its use of hardy strands of genetic material allows it to handle even archived samples where cells have lost their physical integrity.