Analyzing Flow Cytometry or Targeted Gene Expression Data Influences Clinical Discoveries — Profiling Blood Samples of Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma Patients

We investigated the immunological changes in the blood of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma patients treated with a single cycle of FOLFIRINOX chemotherapy combined with lipegfilgrastim. We compared the use of flow cytometry and targeted gene expression analysis to study these immunological changes in blood samples. Our findings showed that FFX-Lipeg treatment increased the number of neutrophils and monocytes. Interestingly, flow cytometry analysis revealed an increase in B and T cells after treatment, while targeted gene expression analysis indicated a decrease in the expression of B and T cell-specific genes. This suggests that different measurement techniques can influence observed immunological changes. Therefore, the careful selection of an appropriate technique is essential when studying treatment effects in PDAC patients. RNA was extracted from Tempus tubes (44 patients, before FFX-Lipeg n=44, after FFX-Lipeg n=44)