What Are T Cell Subsets in Flow Cytometry?

Flow cytometry allows a beam of light, usually a laser, to separate and identify the various subsets of T cells. T cell molecules in lymphocytes in the blood contain enzymes that have special properties and serve different purposes in the body---some trigger autoimmunity responses and others promote disease.

What Are T Cells?

• T cells are a group of white blood cells known as lymphocytes that help promote immunity, control production of antibodies and reject foreign tissue.

What Are T Cell Subsets?

• Triggering certain responses in the body is the job of T cells in the bloodstream. Different types, or subsets, of T cells have different functions and can be helpful or harmful.

Flow Cytometry

• Separating and suspending cells in a fluid allows them to be identified; cytometry is a technique for identifying and counting T cells by segregating them into a narrow stream of light.

Components of Flow Cytometry

• Flow cytometry has five components: a flow containment that aligns and identifies cells; an optical system, which is usually a laser light; a detector, which turns the light into electrical signals; an amplifier; and a computer to analyze the signals.

Lymphocytes and Disease

• HIV is a blood disease that affects many people throughout the world.

  Counting lymphocytes is an integral part of a complete blood cell count. An increase in lymphocytes is usually a sign of a viral infection or leukemia. Low lymphocyte levels occur in the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that infects and destroys T cells.