Quality control in biobank samples: The impact of pre-freezing storage time and temperature on gene expression of blood collected in EDTA tubes

Abstract

Blood gene expression profiling is taking hold in research, diagnosis and monitoring of human diseases. Blood is vulnerable to pre-analytical variables that may alter gene expression ex vivo. Although RNA stabilization systems have been shown to reduce such influence, traditional EDTA tubes are still widely used since they are less expensive and enable to study specific leukocyte populations. Nevertheless, studies on the impact of short bench times on gene expression are lacking.