2021 · Orphanet journal of rare diseases · open access
HAE patient self-sampling for biomarker establishment
Förster et al.
The finding, in our words
In a decentralised design, HAE patients collected dried blood spot samples at home during attacks and at clinic visits, with high acceptability and sufficient sample volumes for LC-IM-QToF MS metabolomics, supporting the feasibility of patient-centric microsampling to discover disease activity biomarkers.
A paraphrase to the Library’s standard, never the abstract. The source is one link away and is always the authority.
The study found that although participants preferred patient-centric microsampling devices for home use, the agreement with venous plasma for measuring CRP and cytokines was inconsistent, indicating that further validation is required before these methods replace standard venipuncture.
In a 20-person proof-of-concept pilot among veterans with HIV, remote self-collection of dried blood spots for phosphatidylethanol monitoring was feasible and acceptable, with high return and analysis rates and positive feedback; a small first step toward decentralised alcohol biomarker monitoring rather than proof of it.
Sheinfil et al., Journal of substance use and addiction treatment (paywalled) · source ↗
In a pilot mixed-methods study of youth with HIV, mailed HemaSpot-HF kits enabled home-based dried blood spot collection that participants found feasible and acceptable, supporting remote viral load monitoring and a self-management model for decentralised care.
Gurung et al., AIDS and behavior (paywalled) · source ↗
The study found that coached dried blood spot collection was feasible for remote biobehavioural assessment of CTRA gene expression among Black women activists, with usable data from 28 of 29 participants at baseline and 27 at follow-up. Within-person increases in activist identity and search for meaning were associated with more favourable CTRA gene expression changes, though mean CTRA did not shift across the group over the two-month period.
Self-collected dried blood spots from 40 healthy participants arrived intact and yielded good-quality DNA, with most immune and epigenetic biomarkers remaining stable for up to six weeks at room temperature. The study confirms that minimally invasive dried blood and plasma spot sampling is feasible for scalable, longitudinal biomolecular surveillance in occupational health settings.
De Ryck et al., Journal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology (paywalled) · source ↗