RESEARCH ARTICLE Reliable and Accurate CD4+ T Cell Count and Percent by the Portable Flow Cytometer CyFlow MiniPOC and “CD4 Easy Count Kit- Dry”, as Revealed by the Comparison with the Gold Standard Dual Platform Technology

Background An accurate and affordable CD4+ T cells count is an essential tool in the fight against HIV/ AIDS. Flow cytometry (FCM) is the “gold standard ” for counting such cells, but this tech-nique is expensive and requires sophisticated equipment, temperature-sensitive monoclo-nal antibodies (mAbs) and trained personnel. The lack of access to technical support and quality assurance programs thus limits the use of FCM in resource-constrained countries. We have tested the accuracy, the precision and the carry-over contamination of Partec CyFlow MiniPOC, a portable and economically affordable flow cytometer designed for CD4+ count and percentage, used along with the “CD4 % Count Kit-Dry”. Materials and Methods Venous blood from 59 adult HIV+ patients (age: 25–58 years; 43 males and 16 females) was collected and stained with the “MiniPOC CD4 % Count Kit-Dry”. CD4+ count and per-centage were then determined in triplicate by the CyFlow MiniPOC. In parallel, CD4 count was performed using mAbs and a CyFlow Counter, or by a dual platform system (fro