# Flow cytometry (immunophenotyping)

Source: https://onco.cc/terms/flow-cytometry/  
OnCo record `flow-cytometry` (Term). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

A machine that streams cells one by one past lasers and reads the surface proteins (CD markers) each carries, identifying what kind of cell it is. It is how leukaemias and lymphomas are typed and how residual disease is counted.

## Summary

Antibodies tagged with fluorescent dyes label CD19, CD20, CD33, CD34, CD38, BCMA and dozens of other markers; the pattern (immunophenotype) distinguishes B from T from myeloid lineages and normal from malignant cells. It diagnoses acute leukaemia, CLL and myeloma from blood or marrow within hours, and multiparameter or next-generation flow measures minimal residual disease to one cell in 100,000-1,000,000, guiding transplant and maintenance decisions. It also confirms that a CAR-T target (CD19, BCMA) is still present after relapse, since antigen loss is a recognised escape.

## Fields

- Kind: Term
- Last checked: 2026-09-09
- Also known as: immunophenotype; immunophenotyping; multiparameter flow cytometry; MFC; next-generation flow; NGF; CD markers; cluster of differentiation

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_cytometry
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_cytometry

## Connected records

- terms: [Antigen escape (antigen loss, lineage switch)](https://onco.cc/terms/antigen-escape/), [Blasts (leukaemic blast cells)](https://onco.cc/terms/blasts/), [Core needle biopsy and fine-needle aspiration (FNA)](https://onco.cc/terms/core-needle-biopsy/), [M-protein, immunofixation and serum free light chains](https://onco.cc/terms/m-protein-free-light-chains/), [Minimal / molecular residual disease (MRD)](https://onco.cc/terms/mrd/), [Ph-like (BCR::ABL1-like) acute lymphoblastic leukaemia](https://onco.cc/terms/ph-like-all/), [Undetectable MRD (uMRD / MRD-negative)](https://onco.cc/terms/umrd/)
- cancers: [Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia](https://onco.cc/cancers/all-leukemia/), [Acute myeloid leukaemia](https://onco.cc/cancers/aml/), [Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia](https://onco.cc/cancers/cll/), [Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, first treatment](https://onco.cc/cancers/cll-treatment-naive/), [Multiple myeloma](https://onco.cc/cancers/multiple-myeloma/), [Plasma cell leukaemia](https://onco.cc/cancers/plasma-cell-leukaemia/)
- fronts: [Diagnostics & Biomarkers](https://onco.cc/fronts/diagnostics/)
- biomarkers: [CD19 expression (CD19-positive)](https://onco.cc/biomarkers/cd19-expression/), [CD20 expression (CD20-positive)](https://onco.cc/biomarkers/cd20-expression/), [CD22 expression (CD22-positive)](https://onco.cc/biomarkers/cd22-expression/), [CD33 expression (CD33-positive)](https://onco.cc/biomarkers/cd33-expression/), [CD38 expression](https://onco.cc/biomarkers/cd38-expression/)

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