NGF immunophenotyping protocols for hemato-oncology include 8-color tubes, allowing precise characterization of normal, reactive and neoplastic leukocyte populations. In addition, the combination of multiple antibodies in the same fluorochrome position allows the analysis of a larger number of antibodies in a single tube.

Each marker combination was designed to answer multiple clinical questions, through the identification, enumeration and characterization of the relevant cell populations. As target populations are not known in advance, an initial screening step based on a limited number of antibodies is crucial to direct to the differential identification of all relevant cell subsets of a sample, thereby improving laboratory efficiency.

Pipetting of a large number of antibodies is time-consuming and is prone to operational mistakes. In contrast, the use of lyophilized tubes results in reduced staining variability between different samples, due to prolonged stability of the reagent mixes and thereby, contributes to the generation of more robust data. Therefore, the laboratory efficiency and quality are improved by using ready-to-use reagents.