How to Preserve Blood Sample Integrity for Proteomic Analysis
Blood is a complex mixture of red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets suspended in fluid
containing coagulation factors and other proteins, known as plasma. Because this biofluid comes into
contact with most tissues, researchers can use blood for proteomics-based biomarker discovery and
validation, where they have already detected protein biomarkers for diseases including cancer and
cardiovascular disease.
which can hinder downstream analysis.3 Additionally, differences in the preanalytical procedure, such as
the collection tubes employed, the time elapsed between drawing and processing, and the blood sample
storage temperature, can cause changes in the sample’s proteomic landscape.As a result, researchers
must process these samples as quickly as possible to ensure accurate analysis.
To reduce the preanalytical variability, scientists can collect whole blood samples within evacuated blood
collection tubes (BCTs), which stabilizes the samples prior to processing. This collection tube maintains the
draw-time concentrations of plasma proteins at ambient temperatures for up to five days after blood
draw, depending on the protein, by reducing platelet activation, hemolysis, and the release of
contaminating blood cell proteins. Consequently, blood samples collected and stored in these tubes
better represent the blood found in circulation, which results in more accurate proteomic analysis.
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