The report demonstrates the characterization of specific blood cells from an individual with type 1 diabetes, providing information about the role these cells might play in the development of the disease and during therapy.
Classification of blood cells, including B and T cells, is important for distinguishing immune responses to pathogens, allergens, or self-antigens in autoimmune diseases. Although various techniques are available to identify cell surface determinants, cytokines and antibodies secreted by blood cells, so far it has not been possible to study multiple secreted proteins while also assigning surface displayed markers to individual living cells.
A collaborative group of investigators from Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the USA, describe how a combination of existing and enhanced immunological methods can identify and characterize rare B cells from blood of a recent onset type 1 diabetic subject.
"Although this is a small pilot study, it is a useful proof of principle for single cell interrogation methodology, which is potentially of general utility", according to immunologist Gerald Nepom from the University of Washington, School of Medicine in Seattle, USA in his commentary published in the same issue of Clinical Immunology.
"This article describes a very exciting new immunodiagnostic tool, potentially enabling the discovery of novel biomarkers for the pathogenesis of immunologic disorders and in monitoring therapy", said Andy Saxon", the Editor-in-Chief of the CIS journal.
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BFS says the success of the new strategy will depend on more NHS funding and elective single embryo transfer must be made the norm for women in the UK, as it is elsewhere in Europe.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) recommends patients should be entitled to up to three free IVF cycles on the NHS.
Since the world's first test-tube baby, Louise Brown, was born in 1978, more than 3.5 million babies have been born worldwide using assisted reproductive technology.
Because more women are waiting longer to have children, the demand for IVF has risen significantly; most treatments are for women aged between 30 and 39 and the technique involves surgically removing eggs from a woman's ovaries and combining them with sperm in the lab - doctors then pick the best embryos, usually one or two, and implant them in the woman's uterus.
Some European governments have already mandated single embryo transfers to reduce multiple pregnancies.
Annual figures from the HFEA for Britain show that of 11,262 children born through IVF treatment, 4,000 were twins.