The Effect of Preanalytical Conditions on Blood-Based Inflammation Biomarkers

Area of Science:

• Biochemistry
• Clinical Chemistry
• Immunology

Background:

• Blood-based inflammation biomarkers are crucial for diagnostics, prognostics, and predictive testing.
• Preanalytical processing conditions can significantly impact biomarker levels and reliability.
• Standardization of blood sample handling is essential for consistent and accurate biomarker measurements.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the influence of needle-to-freezer time, centrifugation timing, and tube types on inflammation biomarkers.
• To assess the stability of 92 inflammation biomarkers using the Olink Target 96 Inflammation panel.
• To evaluate the impact of preanalytical variables on age-related biomarker associations.

Main Methods:

• Twenty subjects provided 21 blood samples in various collection tubes (plasma and serum).
• Analyzed 92 inflammation biomarkers using the Olink Target 96 Inflammation panel.
• Compared biomarker concentrations across different preanalytical conditions against a reference standard, calculating intraclass, Pearson, and Spearman correlations.

Main Results:

• 38%-83% of proteins demonstrated good to excellent correlations across different preanalytical conditions and blood matrices.
• Eighteen proteins showed minor differences (>0.5 NPX units) between test and reference protocols.
• 40% of age-related biomarker associations remained significant (p ≤ 0.05) across all needle-to-freezer times.

Conclusions:

• Many proteins within the Olink Target 96 Inflammation panel exhibit robust stability across diverse preanalytical conditions.
• Blood-based inflammation biomarkers are suitable for testing across different blood specimen types, supporting their clinical utility.
• Further research is required to understand the effects of long-term storage on biomarker stability.