Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells are a mixed immune-cell compartment commonly used for accessible blood-based immune profiling. In this paper workspace, PBMC notes should distinguish measurements of cell composition from measurements of cell state or function.

Cell Compartments To Track

  • T cells.
  • B cells.
  • NK cells.
  • Monocytes.
  • Dendritic-cell-like populations, depending on assay and annotation strategy.

Measurement Modes

  • Flow or mass cytometry for cell proportions and activation markers.
  • Bulk transcriptomics for aggregate PBMC expression signatures.
  • Single-cell transcriptomics for cell-type-specific expression and cell-state inference.
  • Paired single-cell V(D)J profiling for TCR/BCR repertoire features, such as the cytotoxic T-cell clonality and BCR isotype analyses in Gu et al. 2024.
  • Functional stimulation assays for cytokine or activation responses.