2021 · Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · open access
Impact of Preanalytical and Analytical Methods on Cell-Free DNA Diagnostics
Krasic et al.
The finding, in our words
The study found that cfDNA isolation methodology and DTT treatment strongly affect yield and integrity from blood and seminal plasma but not methylation, with NucleoSnap showing the best overall performance and semen identified as an abundant cfDNA source for male reproductive health. This matters because standardising preanalytical and analytical steps is essential for reliable liquid biopsy results in decentralised diagnostics.
A paraphrase to the Library’s standard, never the abstract. The source is one link away and is always the authority.
This review summarises how emerging HPV detection methods including CRISPR/Cas systems, droplet digital PCR and isothermal amplification, combined with self-collected vaginal swabs and liquid biopsy from urine or blood, could improve screening acceptability and enable point-of-care testing compared with conventional approaches that require invasive sampling and centralised laboratory infrastructure.
Shi et al., Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · source ↗
Blood drawn into EDTA tubes yields robust cell-free DNA methylation profiles if plasma is prepared within 24 hours, while preservative tubes maintain profile integrity after 72-hour ambient delays, giving decentralised diagnostics a cost-effective choice for liquid biopsy collection.
The authors developed a multiplex droplet digital PCR assay that measures absolute cfDNA concentration and infers fragment size distribution by cross-amplifying human olfactory receptor genes, identifying suboptimal samples and aberrant size profiles associated with circulating tumour DNA. The assay correlated well with capillary electrophoresis and high-throughput sequencing, offering a cost-effective quality control tool that could help standardise cfDNA analysis for cancer detection, transplantation monitoring and prenatal testing.
Roche Cell-Free DNA Collection Tubes maintained sample integrity for up to seven days at room temperature, whereas Streck tubes preserved cfDNA stability for the full fourteen-day study period. This demonstrates that collection tube choice directly impacts sample quality during ambient shipping, a critical consideration for decentralised diagnostics.
Parackal et al., Practical laboratory medicine · source ↗
Volumetric absorptive microsampling showed better precision than dried blood spots and a metabolic profile closer to whole blood, with stable signalling lipids for 24 hours at room temperature but significant changes after one week unless stabilised, indicating feasibility for decentralised sampling with the need for storage strategies.
Thangavelu et al., Analytical and bioanalytical chemistry · source ↗