Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Nov;34(11):e23784.
doi: 10.1002/ajhb.23784. Epub 2022 Jul 21.

Ecoimmunology in the field: Measuring multiple dimensions of immune function with minimally invasive, field-adapted techniques

Aaron D Blackwell  1 , Angela R Garcia  2   3
Affiliations
Review

Ecoimmunology in the field: Measuring multiple dimensions of immune function with minimally invasive, field-adapted techniques

Aaron D Blackwell et al. Am J Hum Biol. 2022 Nov.

Abstract

Objective: Immune function is multifaceted and characterizations based on single biomarkers may be uninformative or misleading, particularly when considered across ecological contexts. However, measuring the many facets of immunity in the field can be challenging, since many measures cannot be obtained on-site, necessitating sample preservation and transport. Here we assess state-of-the-art methods for measuring immunity, focusing on measures that require a minimal blood sample obtained from a finger prick, which can be: (1) dried on filter paper, (2) frozen in liquid nitrogen, or (3) stabilized with chemical reagents.

Results: We review immune measures that can be obtained from point-of-care devices or from immunoassays of dried blood spots (DBSs), field methods for flow cytometry, the use of RNA or DNA sequencing and quantification, and the application of immune activation assays under field conditions.

Conclusions: Stable protein products, such as immunoglobulins and C-reactive protein are reliably measured in DBSs. Because less stable proteins, such as cytokines, may be problematic to measure even in fresh blood, mRNA from stabilized blood may provide a cleaner measure of cytokine and broader immune-related gene expression. Gene methylation assays or mRNA sequencing also allow for the quantification of many other parameters, including the inference of leukocyte subsets, though with less accuracy than with flow cytometry. Combining these techniques provides an improvement over single-marker studies, allowing for a more nuanced understanding of how social and ecological variables are linked to immune measures and disease risk in diverse populations and settings.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Methods for measuring immune function and collecting samples. (A) Dried blood spots covered by a net to prevent mosquitos from landing (photo: Lawrence Sugiyama). (B) Field antigen stimulation, in which a candle is lit and then sealed in a plastic container to deplete oxygen and increase carbon dioxide. (the jaguar skull looks cool but has not been shown to improve results). (C) a liquid nitrogen shipping tank for sample transport. (D) THLHP field setup for flow cytometry and antigen stimulation
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Percent of CD45+ cells or percent of respective T cell subset (CD4 or CD8 for naive and senescent cells) in matched fresh and frozen samples analyzed by flow cytometry. Black line is the 1:1 slope. Dashed line is the best linear fit line. Reprinted from (Blackwell et al., 2021). See original reference for further details
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Summary of ecoimmunology methods. Colors indicate our subjective assessment of the suitability of a method for a particular measure. Green = optimal measure. Yellow = good measure but may be error prone, difficult, or indirect. Blue = indirect measure that can still be used to infer values. Gray = untested or unvalidated, but perhaps possible. For field friendliness: Green = immediate results, no sample transport; yellow = sample transport or equipment needed; blue = equipment needed and or difficult sample handling
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Abrams, Z. B. , Johnson, T. S. , Huang, K. , Payne, P. R. O. , & Coombes, K. (2019). A protocol to evaluate RNA sequencing normalization methods. BMC Bioinformatics, 20, 1–7. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ackermann, K. , Revell, V. L. , Lao, O. , Rombouts, E. J. , Skene, D. J. , & Kayser, M. (2012). Diurnal rhythms in blood cell populations and the effect of acute sleep deprivation in healthy young men. Sleep, 35, 933–940. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Aghaeepour, N. , Ganio, E. A. , Mcilwain, D. , Tsai, A. S. , Tingle, M. , Van, G. S. , Gaudilliere, D. K. , Baca, Q. , Mcneil, L. , Okada, R. , Ghaemi, M. S. , Furman, D. , Wong, R. J. , Winn, V. D. , Druzin, M. L. , El‐Sayed, Y. Y. , Quaintance, C. , Gibbs, R. , Darmstadt, G. L. , … Gaudilliere, B. (2017). An immune clock of human pregnancy. Science Immunology, 2946, 1–12. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Andersen, N. J. , Mondal, T. K. , Preissler, M. T. , Freed, B. M. , Stockinger, S. , Bell, E. , Druschel, C. , Buck Louis, G. M. , & Lawrence, D. A. (2014). Detection of immunoglobulin isotypes from dried blood spots. Journal of Immunological Methods, 404, 24–32. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Black, S. , Kushner, I. , & Samols, D. (2004). C‐reactive protein. The Journal of Biological Chemistry, 279, 48487–48490. - PubMed