QR Code PURPOSE

Standardized and biomarker-preserving sample

preparation is extremely important for the quality

of data obtained from blood samples.

As the gold standard for peripheral blood

mononuclear cells (PBMC) isolation from whole

blood Vaccutainer CPTs are used, requiring

sample processing within 2-6 hours to prevent

cellular and biomarker degradation.

An alternative to immediate sample processing,

which is often not feasible in clinical settings, are

TransFix (Caltag Medsystems) and CytoChex

(Streck) blood collection tubes that stabilize

lymphocytes for up to 14 days.

We compared the performance of those tubes to

cells that have been stored on ZELLKRAFTWERK’s

ZellSafe microfluidic chips over similar time

periods.

CONCLUSIONS

• Storage of fresh blood impairs PBMC preparation, relative

cell counts and biomarker expression leading to erroneous

results.

• Whole blood sample stability can be extended for several

days with the use of special collection tubes (CytoChex and

TransFix).

• Chipcytometry represents an outstanding new technology to

store, analyze and reinterrogate precious samples without

biomarker degradation and minimal assay variability.

METHODS AND RESULTS

ZELLKRAFTWERK GmbH Deutscher Platz 5c · 04103 Leipzig Germany Phone: +49 (441) 3508 2403 Fax: +49 (511) 532 8725 E-Mail: info[at]zellkraftwerk.com

SUPPORTING CLINICAL TRIALS –

THE IMPACT OF SAMPLE PREPARATION ON IMMUNOLOGY DATA

Jan Detmers, Nancy Stanslowsky, Anja Mirenska, Christian Hennig

ZELLKRAFTWERK GmbH, Germany

www.zellkraftwerk.com

Fig. 1: Using Chipcytometry as readout

system, we demonstrate that blood samples

stored for 24 or 48 h in Vaccutainer CPTs

before PBMC preparation – a typical setting in

clinical trials - have significantly diminished

biomarker expressions. When blood is

stored longer than 24 h heparin as anti-

coagulant is preferred over citrate.

Fig. 2: Whole blood from 3 healthy donors was collected into CytoChex, TransFix and Vaccutainer all using EDTA as anticoagulant. CytoChex

and TransFix samples were stored for 0, 7, 14, 21, and 35 days at prescribed temperatures (RT or 4°C, respectively). Biomarker expression

was analyzed in duplicates by conventional flow cytometry on a FACS Canto II. ZellSafe microfluidic chips were loaded with whole blood in

duplicates on day 0 and stored at 4°C over the similar time period until analysis by Chipcytometry. Stability time course data normalized to

Day 0 and average across the 3 donors for each marker are shown.

M1030 -04-025