Comparing [3H] thymidine LPT and CFSE assay to assess lymphocyte proliferation in beryllium-exposed sarcoidosis patients

Abstract The detection of antigen specific lymphocyte responses plays a vital role in the diagnosis of various diseases. Beryllium-specific [3H] thymidine lymphocyte proliferation test (LPT) is regarded as a gold standard in identifying chronic beryllium disease (CBD) cases. Alternatively, flow cytometric based carboxyfluorescein succinimidyl ester (CFSE) assay, has several benefits as opposed to LPT, since it further permits both phenotypical characterization and functional analysis of proliferating lymphocyte subsets. The suitability of both LPT and CFSE assay to therefore detect beryllium