Clinical application of microfluidic leukocyte enrichment protocol in mild phenotype sickle cell disease (SCD).

Nucleated cell populations, including leukocytes and circulating endothelial cells, provide an ideal sample for studies seeking to understand the pathogenesis of diseases for development of drugs and treatments. Conventional leukocyte enrichment protocols have limitations with respect to selective cell loss and artifactual activation. An automated microfluidic device was developed for leukocyte enrichment from peripheral blood to ensure enumeration of high quality sample without cell loss or artifactual activation. Pre-clinical trials have shown the efficiency of the device to maximize cell yield and minimize artifactual activation in comparison to conventional techniques. Clinical validation and the ability of the microfluidic technique to enrich leukocyte samples to understand disease processes was accomplished in this study by quantifying circulating nucleated cells and their activation status in healthy controls and mild phenotype sickle cell disease (SCD) patients. Results confirm the clinical effectiveness of this technique to accurately characterize immune and inflammatory status.