Journal
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PERSPECTIVES
Volume 121, Issue 4, Pages 480-487Publisher
US DEPT HEALTH HUMAN SCIENCES PUBLIC HEALTH SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1289/ehp.1205657
Keywords
biomarkers; epigenomics; metabolomics; metabonomics; molecular epidemiology; proteomics; transcriptomics
Funding
- European Union [226756]
- MRC [G0801056] Funding Source: UKRI
- Medical Research Council [G0801056, G0801056B] Funding Source: researchfish
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BACKGROUND: The suitability for omic analysis of biosamples collected in previous decades and currently stored in biobanks is unknown. OBJECTIVES: We evaluated the influence of handling and storage conditions of blood-derived biosamples on transcriptomic, epigenomic (CpG methylation), plasma metabolomic [ UPLC-ToFMS (ultra performance liquid chromatography-time-of-flight mass spectrometry)], and wide-target proteomic profiles. METHODS: We collected fresh blood samples without RNA preservative in heparin, EDTA, or citrate and held them at room temperature for <= 24 hr before fractionating them into buffy coat, erythrocytes, and plasma and freezing the fractions at -80 degrees C or in liquid nitrogen. We developed methodology for isolating RNA from the buffy coats and conducted omic analyses. Finally, we analyzed analogous samples from the EPIC-Italy and Northern Sweden Health and Disease Study biobanks. RESULTS: Microarray-quality RNA could be isolated from buffy coats (including most biobank samples) that had been frozen within 8 hr of blood collection by thawing the samples in RNA preservative. Different anti-coagulants influenced the metabolomic, proteomic, and to a lesser extent transcriptomic profiles. Transcriptomic profiles were most affected by the delay (as little as 2 hr) before blood fractionation, whereas storage temperature had minimal impact. Effects on metabolomic and proteomic profiles were noted in samples processed >= 8 hr after collection, but no effects were due to storage temperature. None of the variables examined significantly influenced the epigenomic profiles. No systematic influence of time-in-storage was observed in samples stored over a period of 13-17 years. CONCLUSIONS: Most samples currently stored in biobanks are amenable to meaningful omics analysis, provided that they satisfy collection and storage criteria defined in this study.
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