Evaluation of various anticoagulants for whole blood interferon gamma immunoassay

The whole blood assay is a simple tool to study cell mediated immune response. Employing phytohemagglutinin (PHA) and purified protein derivative (PPD) as stimulants, the levels of IFN-γ in blood samples collected in various anticoagulants namely, sodium heparin, potassium EDTA and tri-sodium citrate were measured. Of these, sodium heparin was found to be the best for IFN-γ assay.