Abstract
In human sepsis, myelocytosis and concomitant lymphopenia complicate the study of peripheral blood natural killer (NK) cells. Here, we present a protocol for isolating NK cells from peripheral blood of septic patients using magnetic cell separation. We describe steps for the depletion of non-NK cells and NK cell enrichment. We then detail procedures for comparing the results from this protocol to results obtained through the isolation procedures using two commercially available kits for NK cell isolation. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Coulibaly et al.1.