Gene expression analysis of CD14+ monocytes immunomagnetically separated directly from whole blood: adaptation of protocols towards clinical trial requirements

Peripheral blood is widely used as starting material for biomarker discovery and validation using molecular biology technologies. The vast majority of currently published transcriptome data is based on RNA derived either from stabilized whole blood or peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Here, gene expression profiling studies and SOPs for fast, easy and specific manual or automated isolation of monocytes directly from whole blood are being described.