Monoclonal antibody analysis now has an important role in leukœmia and in lymphoma phenotyping, as well as immune monitoring in AIDS and other immunological disorders. This technology is also applied to the follow-up of patients undergoing immunotherapy and anti-viral therapy and can be used to gauge the efficiency of chemo or radio-therapy.

Flow cytometry has become the preferred method for antibody detection in such applications. Cellular Phenotyping by Flow Cytometry has progressed so rapidly in recent years that the need for Quality Control and Standardization become self-evident. A Quality Control study on a European scale was therefore justified.

One of the intended goals of this work was to measure the range of interlaboratory variation of results. Although these findings could not be used to formulate a standard method of analysis, the authors were able to condense the results to produce a list of proposals covering issues such as machine alignment, choice of amplification, sample gating, and the use of controls, so as to enable "self-help" in laboratory standardization, and hopefully to enhance the quality of flow cytometry throughout Europe.

This report of the "First European Quality Control of Cellular Phenotyping by Flow Cytometry" is therefore an indispensable manual for clinical, Pathological and Research laboratories as well as anyone producing or using data generated by this technology.