Leukocyte subgroup distribution and morphology in blood of premature and full-term newborn babies studied by the cell microarray

Abstract

Both the ratio of different leukocyte subgroup content and the leukocyte morphology in peripheral blood of newborns are important in diagnosis of several diseases including combined immunodeficiency and neonatal septicemia. There is a need for development of screening methods for parallel study of the leukocyte morphology and population structure in the newborn peripheral blood. We aimed to determine the relative abundance of different leukocyte subsets and to study their morphology in full-term and premature newborn babies and healthy adult volunteers using the cell-binding microarray – a transparent support with immobilized antibodies against leukocyte cluster-of-differentiation antigens. The work was supported by the Scientific council and approved by the ethical committee of the Centre. We have studied the peripheral blood of 12 full-term newborns (38–40 weeks gestation), 9 premature newborns (22–32 weeks gestation) and 18 healthy adults. The relative abundance of the leukocyte and their morphology were determined using the cell-binding microarray including antibodies against CD2, СD3, СD4, CD5, СD7, CD8, CD10, СD11b, CD11c, CD13, CD14, CD15, CD16, CD19, CD20, CD22, CD25, CD33, CD38, CD41a, CD45, CD45RA, CD45RO, CD61, CD64, CD117, CD123, HLA-DR. The percentage of leukocytes positive for every of the studied surface CD antigens among the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of full-term and preterm newborn babies and healthy adults determined on the cell–binding microarray are in good agreement with published flow cytometry data. CD11b+ leukocytes both in premature and full-term newborns included up to 21% myelocytes and 27% metamyelocytes. The reported data can be used as reference values in cell-binding microarray application in diagnosis of combined immunodeficiency or neonatal septicemia.