Anticoagulant Selection Influences T Cell Purity And Yield In Whole Blood Isolation With CTS Detachable Dynabeads Magnetic Beads

When building T cell therapy workflows from whole blood, the choice of anticoagulant tube seems like a minor procedural detail. It is not. This application note follows whole blood samples from three healthy donors through isolation with CTS Detachable Dynabeads CD3/CD28 and CD4/CD8 magnetic beads, revealing how a single upstream variable shapes everything downstream.

ACD-A, EDTA, and sodium citrate each delivered T cell purity above 90% with minimal non-T cell contamination. Lithium heparin told a different story: T cell purity dropped to as low as 48.9%, while CD15-positive myeloid cell carryover climbed above 40% in some conditions. The likely culprit is heparin's highly sulfated structure interfering with surface antigen accessibility and bead binding efficiency. Read the full application note to see how anticoagulant selection affects purity, recovery, and viability.