Hi!
The hospital I'm collaborating with only have EDTA-tubes for blood sampling. I have heard that I should choose heparin- or citrate-tubes when procuring cells for ELISpot assays, but would it be possible to use EDTA-tubes as well?
Best regards
Sindhu
Dear Sindhu,
No, EDTA tubes are not recommended for use in ELISpot. EDTA works as as a anticoagulant by binding very strongly to calcium, which may impair cytokine induction, effectively ruining the purpose of the ELISpot assay.
At Mabtech we tend to use heparin. Works well.
In my own phd studies I used citrate with good results.
Best,
Christian
Thank you Christian.
I will try to convince the hospital ward to use heparin for the samples in my study.
//Sindhu