Isolation and Cryopreservation of Mononuclear Cells from Peripheral Blood and Bone Marrow of Blood Cancer Patients.

Peripheral blood and bone marrow aspirates are routinely obtained from blood cancer patients for diagnostic investigations and provide an accessible source of patient-specific cancer cells, as well as non-malignant cells, for research proposes. The simple and reproducible method presented here allows isolation of viable mononuclear cells, including malignant cells, from fresh peripheral blood or bone marrow aspirates using density gradient centrifugation. The cells obtained using the protocol described can be further purified for a variety of cellular, immunological, molecular, and functional assays. In addition, these cells can be cryopreserved and bio-banked for future research studies.