Banking of Biological Fluids for Studies of Disease-associated Protein Biomarkers

Abstract

With the increasing demand of providing personalized medicine the need for biobanking of biological material from individual patients has increased. Such samples are essential for molecular research aimed at characterizing diseases at several levels ranging from epidemiology and diagnostic and prognostic classification to prediction of response to therapy. Clinically validated biomarkers may provide information to be used for diagnosis, screening, evaluation of risk/predisposition, assessment of prognosis, monitoring (recurrence of disease), and prediction of response to treatment and as a surrogate response marker. Many types of biological fluids or tissues can be collected and stored in biorepositories. Samples of blood can be further processed into plasma and serum, and tissue pieces can be either frozen or fixed in formalin and then embedded into paraffin. The present review focuses on biological fluids, especially serum and plasma, intended for study of protein biomarkers. In biomarker studies the process from the decision to take a sample from an individual to the moment the sample is safely placed in the biobank consists of several phases including collection of samples, transport of the samples, and handling and storage of samples. Critical points in each step important for high quality biomarker studies are described in this review. Failure to develop and adhere to robust standardized protocols may have significant consequences as the quality of the material stored in the biobank as well as conclusions and clinical recommendations based on analysis of such material may be severely affected.

Use of narrow‐range peptide IEF to improve detection of lung adenocarcinoma markers in plasma and pleural effusion

“…All donors signed informed consent and the study was approved by the ethics committee at the Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm (2003-413 amendment 2005-71-32). Sample collection and storage was performed in line with guidelines presented in [16]. Peripheral venous blood and pleural effusion was collected in EDTA tubes (BD Vacutainer K2E 7.2 mg, BD Diagnostics) and kept at 41C until preparation to prevent coagulation and minimize protein degradation.…”

Multiplexed Homogeneous Proximity Ligation Assays for High-throughput Protein Biomarker Research in Serological Material

“…The quest for early detection of cancer leads us to retroactively mine biobanked plasma samples in hopes of finding better protein biomarkers and biomarker combinations (1)(2)(3)(4). Such development of serological biomarkers find vast uses not only for disease detection but also patient monitoring and in general research applications.…”

State of the Science: Salivary Biomarker Utilization for Stress Research

“…9,14,23,53,54) To date, molecular and proteomic technology yield advanced insight into the characteristics of salivary proteomes and provide strong evidence supporting the use of saliva as a diagnostic tool. 9,17,23,[53][54][55][56] In sum, biomarker research is advancing the ability to profile a large number of analytes in a single assay using high throughput genomics, proteomics, 17) and other 'omics' platforms. Together with the pending prospect of rapid expansion of whole exome and whole genome sequencing for clinical use, new biomarkers will be identified and validated and the technical and logistical complexity of biomarker validation will be increasing.…”