Flow cytometric measurement of telomere length

The regulation of telomere length may be involved in the cellular physiolog y of senescence, reproduction, cancer, immune response to infection, and po ssibly immune deficiency. The measurement of telomere length, critical to r esearch in this area, has traditionally been performed by Southern blot ana lysis, which is cumbersome and time consuming. Several alternative methods have been described in recent years. Some, such as pulsed-field electrophor esis, slot blots, and centromere-to-telomere ratio measurements are essenti ally improvements to the Southern blot technique. However, other methods su ch as fluorescent in situ hybridization an metaphase chromosome spreads and flow cytometry-based fluorescent in situ hybridization represent a complet ely new technical approach to the problem. In this review, we compare metho ds, with particular emphasis placed on flow cytometric techniques far measu ring telomere length in situ and identifying potential areas where improvem ents may still be made. Cytometry (Comm. Clin, Cytometry) 42: 159-164, 2000 . (C) 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.