QUANTITATIVE-DETERMINATION OF CD4 CD8 MOLECULES BY A CELL MARKER ELISA/

Determination of percentages of CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells from patient s with human immunodeficiency virus infection is usually done by flow cytometric analysis. We compared a cell marker ELISA with flow cytomet ry for quantitation of CD4 and CD8 molecules on T lymphocytes, and cor related the values both with the number of CD4(+) and CD8(+) T lymphoc ytes and with clinical data. Results by cell marker ELISA (y) correlat ed well with those by flow cytometric analysis (x); r = 0.69, P<0.001 (y = 0.01x + 3.9) for CD4; r = 0.81, P<0.001 (y = 0.03x + 5.4) for CD8 ; n = 343. The ELISA detected changes in numbers of CD8 molecules on t he cells earlier than flow cytometry recognized changes in CD8(+) T-ce ll counts. The advantages of the ELISA are the small sample volume req uired (0.5 mL of blood), its internal standardization by a CD4(+)/CD8( +) cell line, and its simple and fast performance. The cell marker ELI SA appears to be an efficient alternative to flow cytometry.