High sensitivity C-reactive protein (Hs-CRP) remains highly stable in long-term archived human serum

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• 作者：Ayo P. Doumatey ; ^{doumateya@mail.nih.gov" class="auth_mail} ; Jie Zhou ; Adebowale Adeyemo ; Charles Rotimi
• 关键词：C-reactive protein ; Archived samples ; Long-term storage ; Stability ; Biomedical research
• 刊名：Clinical Biochemistry
• 出版年：March, 2014
• 年：2014
• 卷：47
• 期：4-5
• 页码：315-318
• 全文大小：768 K

文摘

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 7-11 years of storage at 鈭?#xA0;80 掳C [Hs-CRP (LT)].

Results

Hs-CRP did not significantly change up to 11 years of storage at 鈭?#xA0;80 掳C as shown by a negligible median difference between Hs-CRP (0) and Hs-CRP (LT), delta_{(Hs-CRP (0)-Hs-CRP (LT))} = 鈭?#xA0;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 (蟻_C = 0.98) and Bland-Altman analysis (mean difference = 鈭?#xA0;0.02, 95% CI [鈭?#xA0;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 鈭?#xA0;80 掳C for up to 11 years 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.