title: T-cell death, phosphatidylserine exposure and reduced proliferation rate to validate extracorporeal photochemotherapy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Extracorporeal photochemotherapy (ECP) is an established therapy in various diseases, such as cutaneous T-cell lymphoma and graft-versus-host disease. This study was performed to investigate the practicability of a flow cytometric T-cell evaluation after ECP as a tool to validate the quality of ECP procedures and to enable the comparability of treatments with different ECP devices.
  
  
  METHODS
  Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMNCs) of healthy volunteer blood donors were treated by offline ECP. To quantify the effect of ECP on T cells in vitro, phosphatidylserine exposure and 7-aminoactinomycin D (7-AAD) reactivity as well as the proliferative activity of phytohaemagglutinin-induced, viable CD3(+) lymphocytes were analysed by flow cytometry.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The expected T-cell death after ECP was confirmed by 7-AAD measurements. Phosphatidylserine exposure gradually increased between 20 and 70 h after ECP. Treatment-related inhibition of T-cell proliferation was 92.6 ± 1.4%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The combination of viability, phosphatidylserine exposure and T-cell division analyses by flow cytometry in a single-platform system provides a valuable tool to validate ECP procedures.
authors.affiliation: Blood Group Serology and Transfusion Medicine, Salzburg University Hospital (SALK), Salzburg, Austria; Spinal Cord Injury & Tissue Regeneration Center Salzburg (SCI-TReCS), Paracelsus Medical University (PMU), Salzburg, Austria.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schmid
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Grabmer
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Streif
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lener
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Schallmoser
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rohde
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017209:Apoptosis; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D005434:Flow Cytometry / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D010718:Phosphatidylserines / Q000378:metabolism; D017893:Photopheresis / Q000379:methods*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D010718:Phosphatidylserines
keywords: apheresis; apoptosis; cellular therapy; quality control