Effects of Prolonged Storage of Whole Plasma or Isolated Plasma DNA on the Results of Circulating DNA Quantification Assays

Abstract

Analysis of molecular markers in biological fluids has been proposed as a tool for early detection and monitoring of cancer. Circulating plasma DNA concentrations have been found to be higher in cancer patients than in cancer-free control subjects, but little is known about the effect of specimen storage on plasma DNA concentrations. Here we investigated the impact of long-term storage of both plasma samples and purified plasma DNA on the reproducibility of plasma DNA quantification as determined using real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis. The analysis was performed on samples from a subset of 34 lung cancer patients and 28 matched control subjects selected from 200 subjects in our previously published case–control study and from 117 cancer-free smokers enrolled in a lung cancer screening program. Two samples of plasma and isolated DNA were assessed for each patient, with a median of 41 months between the first and second assessments for participants in the case–control study and 9 months for participants in the screening study. DNA levels declined substantially between the two assessments at an average rate of approximately 30% per year. These data provide valuable information for the rational planning of retrospective studies of banked series of biological samples, particularly if collected over a long period of time, as can occur in large clinical trials.