CYTO 2025 Tutorials: Do you know your ABCs of PBMCs? (A Critical Evaluation of Pre-analytical Variables)

Do you know your ABCs of PBMCs? (A Critical Evaluation of Pre-analytical Variables)

Sylvia Janetzki, MD - President, Zellnet Consulting, Inc.
Helen McGuire, PhD - Associate Professor, The University of Sydney
Karen Quadrini, PhD - Director, Clinical Biomarkers, Prothena Biosciences
Thomas Beadnell, PhD - Scientific Advisor, Eurofins Clinical Trial Solutions
Natalie Smith, B Sci (Hons I) - PhD Student, The University of Sydney
Vikas Singh, PhD - Research Scientist II, Eurofins Clinical Trial Solutions
Robin Walsh, MS - Advisor, ImmunoSafety, Eli Lilly and Co.

Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells (PBMC) are a critical biospecimen in immune functional assays as well as phenotyping assays. Many variables can impact PBMC quality and therein impact the downstream analysis. Understanding these variables, the impact and the best practices surrounding them will provide researchers with a stronger foundation to improve data quality and consistency.

The PBMC tutorial will present current practices for PBMC isolation and processing, from whole blood collection to assay use preparation. Based upon pre-conference survey results, with input from the Flow Cytometry, ELISPOT, and live cell communities, standardization of processes and advancements to help improve consistency across studies, labs, and clinical trials remain important factors that need to be addressed. In addition, the community highlighted PBMC quality and variability deriving from preparations, freezing, and thawing to be critical factors impacting studies. The tutorial will highlight logistical hurdles for processing patient/donor samples, using case studies to demonstrate the impact variability has upon downstream functional and/or phenotypic analysis for various applications. Building upon these case studies, the tutorial will present important considerations for clinical trial implementation and will review the current best practices for improving quality in PBMC preparations.

An essential component to understanding PBMC quality is the establishment of effective PBMC quality assurance (QA) parameters. Responses from the pre-conference survey highlighted a need for improved guidance around PBMC QA parameters. The tutorial will highlight the current guidelines and best practices to help establish relevant PBMC QA parameters in your lab.

Taken together, the tutorial will establish a foundation for current best practices for obtaining high-quality PBMC and aims to be a launching point for the establishment of future guidance documentation. Following this tutorial there will be a workshop where we will aim to further define the key unmet needs within the field and establish the next steps for organizing committees and identifying action items to address and improve upon the current practices.

CMLE Credit: 1.0