ABSTRACT
Advantages and Disadvantages of Depletion and Enrichment Depletion methods ensure target cells remain unlabeled, and this may be advantageous for functional studies such as T-cell activation. It is often cumbersome, however, to remove all nontarget cells, especially if the cells of interest, such as hematopoietic stem cells, represent only a minor fraction of the starting population. A depletion approach would require a complete panel of Abs directed against markers on all other cells. Moreover, as the separation column must be large enough to retain nearly the entire sample, the process is not well suited for bulky samples such as leukapheresis packs. In contrast to positive selection, the resultant cells are diluted during the separation process because of the extensive washing needed. Taken together, these factors suggest that depletion strategies are of limited use in isolating rare cell populations.
