Innate Immunity
Infections are especially difficult for patients with immunodeficiency disorders and cause increased risk for morbidity and mortality.
Neutrophils are the most abundant circulating leukocytes in the human blood and are the first line of defense against bacteria, fungi and viruses. They are recruited to sites of infection, where they exert a broad range of antimicrobial functions, such as phagocytosis, neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) formation, production of reactive oxygen species or secretion of cytokines.
Neutrophils have a relatively short life span of several hours in the blood stream and there are no reliable immortalized cell lines for in-vitro experiments. At CBmed, we have established ex-vivo models based on freshly isolated neutrophils from volunteers or patients for most neutrophil functions. Our focus lays on reactive oxygen species production, phagocytosis and cytokine production, but we have also experience in NET formation and migration assays.
Innate Immunity
Infections are especially difficult for patients with immunodeficiency disorders and cause increased risk for morbidity and mortality.
Neutrophils are the most abundant circulating leukocytes in the human blood and are the first line of defense against bacteria, fungi and viruses. They are recruited to sites of infection, where they exert a broad range of antimicrobial functions, such as phagocytosis, neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) formation, production of reactive oxygen species or secretion of cytokines.
Neutrophils have a relatively short life span of several hours in the blood stream and there are no reliable immortalized cell lines for in-vitro experiments. At CBmed, we have established ex-vivo models based on freshly isolated neutrophils from volunteers or patients for most neutrophil functions. Our focus lays on reactive oxygen species production, phagocytosis and cytokine production, but we have also experience in NET formation and migration assays.
Phagocytosis
We assess the ability of immune cells to phagocytize bacteria by means of FIT-C labelled bacteria and flow cytometry. Depending on the research question, we can use wither freshly donated whole blood or isolated neutrophils for this assessment. Our inhouse gating strategy and analysis workflow help us defining cell populations with varying phagocytosis capacity and refine the quantification of the phagocytic capacity of neutrophils. Flow cytometry is one of our core technologies at CBmed. Learn more about other applications of this technology (link to Core technologies)
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Reactive oxygen species production
Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are an unspecific antimicrobial strategy but also important signalling agents in immune responses. Diseases in which this ROS formation does not work properly are often accompanied by high infection rates, for example in cirrhosis associated immune deficiency (CAIDS). While the flow cytometry based measurement of neutrophil ROS formation in whole blood is an experimental marker for neutrophil function in clinical studies, luminescence-based assays with isolated neutrophils are useful tools in our probiotic characterization workflow, or basic research project.
Cytokine production
Unravelling the communication of neutrophils can give important insight into their biology and function. At CBmed we use multiplex bead arrays to assess a broad range of cytokines and chemokines from one small sample. Cytokine production of neutrophils is a common parameter in probiotic strain characterisation. Check out our Strain characterisation offer.
