Multiparametric evaluation of cellular regulation by flow cytometry

• Grant number: 12/51778-9
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: May 01, 2013
• End date: April 30, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Biophysics - Cellular Biophysics
• Principal Investigator: Alice Teixeira Ferreira
• Grantee: Alice Teixeira Ferreira
• Host Institution: Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

For several years, conventional assessment of cellular processes has analyzed one or a few parameters by mapping, one at a time, the molecular mechanisms of cellular regulation. Recently, multiparametric flow cytometry have emerged showing the existence of subpopulations within cells that were previously seen as a homogenous population, and allowed mapping biological responses after stimulation of several cellular signaling pathways. The resolution obtained in single cell flow cytometry (since this methodology evaluates cell by cell individually) together with the simultaneous measurement of various parameters (up to 20 independent parameters depending on the cytometer) has had a significant impact not only in immunophenotyping, but also in the study of signaling cascades and other biological changes. The development of such methodology has allowed the further understanding of the changes that occur in diseases associated with dysfunctions in cell death and proliferation. This methodology also made possible the Identification of population with stem cells characteristic within cancers, which are now regarded as potential new therapeutic targets. Moreover, large capacity cytometry analysis, and ease protocols, places the single cell flow cytometry technique as a "high-throughput screening" instrument to the discovery of the mode of action of new drugs. (AU)