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Updated: May 4, 2026
Detection and Quantification of Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide CGRP in Human Plasma Using a Modified Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
Published on: June 16, 2023
High sensitivity C-reactive protein (Hs-CRP) remains highly stable in long-term archived human serum
Ayo P Doumatey1, Jie Zhou1, Adebowale Adeyemo1
1Center for Research on Genomics and Global Health, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Background:
The stability of biomarkers in stored biomedical samples is crucial, especially when storage is for extended periods of time. High-sensitivity CRP (Hs-CRP) is a biomarker of low grade inflammation that is extensively used to identify and study cardiovascular and/or inflammatory processes in clinical care and large epidemiologic studies. Therefore, assessing Hs-CRP stability in archived samples at a given temperature is important to ensure precision of measurements over time and the validity of studies using archived samples.
Methods:
We evaluated the stability of Hs-CRP in 30 randomly selected human serum samples by measuring Hs-CRP concentrations in freshly collected sample [Hs-CRP (0)] and in the same set of samples after 7-11years of storage at -80°C [Hs-CRP (LT)].
Results:
Hs-CRP did not significantly change up to 11years of storage at -80°C as shown by a negligible median difference between Hs-CRP (0) and Hs-CRP (LT), delta(Hs-CRP (0)-Hs-CRP (LT))=-0.01, p=0.45. There was a good concordance and agreement between Hs-CRP (0) and Hs-CRP (LT) as measured respectively by Lin's coefficient of correlation (ρC=0.98) and Bland-Altman analysis (mean difference=-0.02, 95% CI [-0.04-0.0045] p=0.107). In addition, the data also suggest that the time elapsed between collection and Hs-CRP measurement does not affect Hs-CRP stability over time when samples are kept under the appropriate conditions.
Conclusions:
Long-term storage at -80°C for up to 11years did not significantly affect the stability of serum Hs-CRP. Given the cost and time for collecting fresh samples, this observation represents an important finding for biomedical research and clinical care.
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