Research Division, Ontario Cancer Institute and Princess Margaret Hospital, 610 University Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5G 2M9.
Methods. 2012 Jul;57(3):359-67. doi: 10.1016/j.ymeth.2012.03.027. Epub 2012 Apr 6.
Despite considerable interest during the early clinical development of flow cytometry, its application to solid tumours has been largely ignored in recent years. However, with rapid progress in cancer biology and molecular therapeutics, linked to technical developments in the areas of flow cytometry instrumentation, reagents, and data analysis, it is timely to re-evaluate this role. This article places emphasis on the unique potential of flow cytometry to analyze heterogeneous cell populations, and to provide information on the functional status of regulatory processes by the simultaneous measurement of multiple key elements. Major obstacles to progress addressed include the acquisition of adequate clinical samples, tissue disaggregation to produce single cells suspensions suitable for flow cytometry, and protocols to label intracellular as well as cell surface antigens.
尽管流式细胞术在早期临床开发过程中引起了相当大的关注，但近年来其在实体瘤中的应用基本上被忽视了。然而，随着癌症生物学和分子治疗学的快速发展，以及流式细胞术仪器、试剂和数据分析领域的技术发展，现在是重新评估这一作用的恰当时机。本文强调了流式细胞术通过同时测量多个关键因素来分析异质细胞群体，并提供有关调节过程功能状态信息的独特潜力。解决的主要障碍包括获得足够的临床样本、组织分散以产生适合流式细胞术的单细胞悬液，以及标记细胞内和细胞表面抗原的方案。
