[ill] the Editor.—There is increasing [ill]terest in evaluation, with use of [ill]onoclonal antibodies, of the helper [ill]d suppressor T-lymphocyte sub[ill]pulations in various disease states, [ill]cluding the acquired immune defi[ill]ency syndrome.1,2 Recent studies3,4 [ill]ve emphasized the importance of [ill][ill]operoper processing of blood samples [ill]efore monoclonal-antibody testing [ill]r T-cell subpopulations, to avoid any [ill]isinterpretation of the results that [ill]ight reflect changes occurring be[ill]use of storage. We have investigated [ill]e effect on lymphocyte subpopula[ill]ons produced by different methods of [ill]orage of mononuclear cells before [ill]onoclonal-antibody testing.
Peripheral blood from 13 healthy [ill]onors (20 to 50 years old) was drawn [ill] 9 AM and mononuclear cells were [ill]olated on Ficoll-Hypaque. The mono[ill]uclear cells from seven donors were [ill]eparated into five aliquots (Table, [ill]arts A to E). Sample A was tested [ill]mediately after donation; sample B as stored at 22 °C for six hours and [ill]enen at 4 °C for an additional