Why telomere length measurements by flow cytometry?
The Flow FISH technique is highly reproducible and accurate and more informative compared with other methods such as Southern Blot analysis of restriction fragments and PCR based techniques. This more informative technique allows analysis and comparisons of the telomere length between different cell types and within one cell type, e.g. in longitudinal studies. Such studies have shown that the telomere length declines with age, and following transplantation follows distinct patterns in T cells, B cells and hematopoietic precursor cells.
