Recent advances in cytometry applications: preclinical, clinical, and cell biology.

The acceptance of flow cytometry (FCM) in clinical laboratory medicine is a major stepping stone towards development new cell analyses, improvement of accuracy, and finally a new range of diagnostic tests. Applications range from differential blood count determination to the identification of fluorescence-labeled subpopulations of disease-specific cell types in cell suspensions. Even new disease patterns can be identified by FCM. However, FCM is not only applicable for making a diagnosis but also for disease monitoring and routine check-ups. It is often used in oncology-related analyses, such as for leukemia and lymphoma patients. Here, not only cell numbers are relevant but also the degree of antigen expression which can be determined in a standardized way. Next to FCM also image cytometry has entered clinical applications although manual review by pathologists is still standard. In general, the multicolor approach and hence the ability for multiparametric analyses has led FCM to a central cornerstone in cell biology research. This review is intended to present an overview of cytometric applications which have entered clinical practice and led to deeper understanding in biological processes.