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Factors related to blood sample collection and storage can have a substantial impact on the biomolecular composition of the sample, according to research published in EBioMedicine.
The study showed that freezer storage time and the month and season during which a blood sample is collected can affect protein concentrations.
In fact, researchers said these factors should be considered covariates of the same importance as the sample provider’s age or gender.
“This discovery will change the way the entire world works with biobank blood,” said study author Stefan Enroth, PhD, of Uppsala University in Sweden.
“All research on, and analysis of, biobank blood going forward should also take into account what we have discovered—namely, the time aspect. It is completely new.”
As part of their research on uterine cancer, Dr Enroth and his colleagues looked at plasma samples collected from 1988 to 2014. There were 380 samples from 106 women between the ages of 29 and 73.
The researchers looked at the duration of sample storage, the women’s chronological age at sample collection, and the season and month of the year the sample was collected, assessing the impact of these factors on the abundance levels of 108 proteins.
When studying the impact of storage time, the researchers used only samples from 50-year-old women in order to isolate the time effect. The team found that storage time affected 18 proteins and explained 4.8% to 34.9% of the variance observed.
The women’s chronological age at the time of sample collection, after the adjustment for storage time, affected 70 proteins and explained 1.1% to 33.5% of the variance.
“We suspected that we’d find an influence from storage time, but we thought it would be much less,” said study author Ulf Gyllensten, PhD, of Uppsala University.
“It has now been demonstrated that storage time can be a factor at least as important as the age of the individual at sampling.”
The other major finding of the study is that protein levels vary depending on the season or month in which the samples were taken.
The researchers said results in the month analysis corresponded with the seasonal analysis, so they hypothesized that sunlight hours at the time of sampling could explain some of the variance they observed in plasma protein abundance levels.
The team found the number of sunlight hours affected 36 proteins and explained up to 4.5% of the variance observed after adjusting for storage time and age.
The researchers said these results suggest that information on the sample handling history should be regarded as “equally prominent covariates” as age or gender. Therefore, the information should be included in epidemiological studies involving protein levels. 
Photo by Graham Colm
Factors related to blood sample collection and storage can have a substantial impact on the biomolecular composition of the sample, according to research published in EBioMedicine.
The study showed that freezer storage time and the month and season during which a blood sample is collected can affect protein concentrations.
In fact, researchers said these factors should be considered covariates of the same importance as the sample provider’s age or gender.
“This discovery will change the way the entire world works with biobank blood,” said study author Stefan Enroth, PhD, of Uppsala University in Sweden.
“All research on, and analysis of, biobank blood going forward should also take into account what we have discovered—namely, the time aspect. It is completely new.”
As part of their research on uterine cancer, Dr Enroth and his colleagues looked at plasma samples collected from 1988 to 2014. There were 380 samples from 106 women between the ages of 29 and 73.
The researchers looked at the duration of sample storage, the women’s chronological age at sample collection, and the season and month of the year the sample was collected, assessing the impact of these factors on the abundance levels of 108 proteins.
When studying the impact of storage time, the researchers used only samples from 50-year-old women in order to isolate the time effect. The team found that storage time affected 18 proteins and explained 4.8% to 34.9% of the variance observed.
The women’s chronological age at the time of sample collection, after the adjustment for storage time, affected 70 proteins and explained 1.1% to 33.5% of the variance.
“We suspected that we’d find an influence from storage time, but we thought it would be much less,” said study author Ulf Gyllensten, PhD, of Uppsala University.
“It has now been demonstrated that storage time can be a factor at least as important as the age of the individual at sampling.”
The other major finding of the study is that protein levels vary depending on the season or month in which the samples were taken.
The researchers said results in the month analysis corresponded with the seasonal analysis, so they hypothesized that sunlight hours at the time of sampling could explain some of the variance they observed in plasma protein abundance levels.
The team found the number of sunlight hours affected 36 proteins and explained up to 4.5% of the variance observed after adjusting for storage time and age.
The researchers said these results suggest that information on the sample handling history should be regarded as “equally prominent covariates” as age or gender. Therefore, the information should be included in epidemiological studies involving protein levels.
Photo by Graham Colm
Factors related to blood sample collection and storage can have a substantial impact on the biomolecular composition of the sample, according to research published in EBioMedicine.
The study showed that freezer storage time and the month and season during which a blood sample is collected can affect protein concentrations.
In fact, researchers said these factors should be considered covariates of the same importance as the sample provider’s age or gender.
“This discovery will change the way the entire world works with biobank blood,” said study author Stefan Enroth, PhD, of Uppsala University in Sweden.
“All research on, and analysis of, biobank blood going forward should also take into account what we have discovered—namely, the time aspect. It is completely new.”
As part of their research on uterine cancer, Dr Enroth and his colleagues looked at plasma samples collected from 1988 to 2014. There were 380 samples from 106 women between the ages of 29 and 73.
The researchers looked at the duration of sample storage, the women’s chronological age at sample collection, and the season and month of the year the sample was collected, assessing the impact of these factors on the abundance levels of 108 proteins.
When studying the impact of storage time, the researchers used only samples from 50-year-old women in order to isolate the time effect. The team found that storage time affected 18 proteins and explained 4.8% to 34.9% of the variance observed.
The women’s chronological age at the time of sample collection, after the adjustment for storage time, affected 70 proteins and explained 1.1% to 33.5% of the variance.
“We suspected that we’d find an influence from storage time, but we thought it would be much less,” said study author Ulf Gyllensten, PhD, of Uppsala University.
“It has now been demonstrated that storage time can be a factor at least as important as the age of the individual at sampling.”
The other major finding of the study is that protein levels vary depending on the season or month in which the samples were taken.
The researchers said results in the month analysis corresponded with the seasonal analysis, so they hypothesized that sunlight hours at the time of sampling could explain some of the variance they observed in plasma protein abundance levels.
The team found the number of sunlight hours affected 36 proteins and explained up to 4.5% of the variance observed after adjusting for storage time and age.
The researchers said these results suggest that information on the sample handling history should be regarded as “equally prominent covariates” as age or gender. Therefore, the information should be included in epidemiological studies involving protein levels.