Affiliations: [a] Department of Mechanical Engineering, Graduate School, Kookmin University, Seoul 02707, Korea | [b] NanoEntek, Seoul 08389, Korea | [c] School of Mechanical Engineering and Department of Integrative Biomedical Science and Engineering, Graduate School, Kookmin University, Seoul 02707, Korea
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Jung Kyung Kim, School of Mechanical Engineering, Kookmin University, 77 Jeongneung-ro, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul 02707, Korea. Tel.: +82 2 910 4767; Fax: +82 2 910 4839; E-mail: jkkim@kookmin.ac.kr.
Abstract: BACKGROUND:Although AIDS-related mortality has declined since the introduction of antiretroviral therapy (ART), HIV/ AIDS patients are predominantly present in developing countries that lack high-cost diagnostic devices and human expertise. OBJECTIVE: New methods for counting CD4+ cells cost-effectively are needed to replace conventional flow cytometry-based diagnosis. METHODS: We developed a CD4+ cell analyzer, ADAMII, which is a benchtop fluorescence image-based CD3+/4+ cell counting analyzer. It bears a three-channel light source and performs CD3+/4+ counting assays. The automatic 3D stage captures a maximum of 136 images that are subsequently processed and analyzed using a software integrated into the system. RESULTS: Results obtained using ADAMII were compared with data obtained by conventional methods using a FACSCalibur flow cytometer and the point-of-care PIMA CD4 analyzer. Both comparisons between ADAMII vs. FACS and ADAMII vs. PIMA data yielded a strong correlation with an R2 value of 0.98, which ensures the feasibility of CD4 test by ADAMII. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed method using ADAMII can be easily employed in resource-limited areas to replace conventional flow cytometers, which are expensive and require highly trained staff.
