Background Flow cytometric enumeration of lymphocyte subsets in peripheral blood can provide important information about immune status. Commutable reference materials (RM) are crucial for maintaining accurate and comparable measurement results over time and space. Commutability assessment of RMs for lymphocyte subsets enumeration has not been reported elsewhere. Methods Lymphocyte subsets were measured in triplicate on 56 patient samples and eight RMs using two measuring systems commonly used in laboratories (FACS Canto II and Cytomics FC500). The first step was to determine the suitability of RMs and comparability of different systems with patient samples. After the requirements of suitability and comparability were met, the second step was to assess commutability following regression approach and difference in bias approach. Results Two RMs were not measurable on FC500 system for CD3-CD16/56+ and CD3-CD19+ percentages. The results of comparability showed no significant difference in the two systems. Eight RMs for CD3+CD4+ cell count, six RMs for CD3+ and CD3+CD8+ percentages, five RMs for CD3-CD16/56+ percentage, and three RMs for CD3-CD19+ percentage were commutable using the two approaches. For CD3+, CD3+CD8+ and CD3-CD19+ percentages, the results of regression approach showed that one RM was non-commutable for each parameter, while the other approach showed that the RM was commutable. Conclusions The suitability of RM and comparability of different measuring systems are prerequisites for assessing commutability. This study indicated that different approaches led to different results. The difference in bias approach is recommended for criteria relating to medical requirements and performance characteristics of measuring systems in use.
Keywords: commutability; flow cytometry; lymphocyte subset; reference material.