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Purpose Mass spectrometry is one of the rapidly developing bio‐analytical techniques in recent years, and it shows that the results of biomarkers’ screening can be influenced by pre‐analytical process. The selection of the blood collection tubes is one of the most significant steps of pre‐analytical process which is often neglected by researchers. So, it is urgent to define the influence of blood collection tubes clearly in biomarkers’ screening. Experimental Design Two types of blood collection tubes, non‐additive tubes and coagulant activator tubes, are used to collect serum samples from patients and healthy controls. All samples are analyzed using matrix‐assisted laser desorption ionization‐time of flight mass spectrum in this study. Results The serum protein profile changes while using coagulant tubes whether for patients or healthy controls. It is found that the effect of coagulant on serum protein of patients is smaller than that of control group. There are 27 significantly different peaks between the control group and the control coagulant group. However, between patient group and patient coagulant group, only one differential peak is obtained. Coagulant changes the expression differences between patients and healthy controls, making the differences expand, shrink or reverse, and most of the polypeptides are small molecule, which will change the results of biomarker's screening. Conclusions and Clinical Relevance This research suggested that different types of blood collection tubes would influence the final laboratory results. So it's important for clinicians to choose the proper tubes to detect biomarkers and make correct diagnoses.

Background: Previous studies have found that neck circumference (NC) is associated with cardiovascular disease risk factors. This study investigated the relationship between NC and the incidence of angina pectoris (AP). Methods: Altogether 4821 participants (2212 males and 2609 females) from the Sleep Heart Health Study (SHHS) with a mean age of 63.4±11.0 years were selected in this study. Anthropometric measurements, including NC, waist circumference (WC), hip circumference (HC), and body mass index (BMI), were collected at baseline. AP was defined as the first occurrence between baseline and 2011. Linear and logistic regression analysis was used to explore the association between NC and incidences of AP. Results: There was a significant difference in NC between AP and controls in both male (41.1±3.1 cm vs 40.3±3.2 cm; p<0.001) and female (35.2±3.1 cm vs 34.9±2.9 cm; p=0.006). Multivariable linear regression analysis showed that NC (every cm increase) was independently associated with the incidence of AP in both male (odds ratio [OR] 1.067; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.035-1.100; p<0.001) and female (OR 1.067; 95% CI 1.035-1.101; p<0.001). Conclusion: NC was significantly associated with the incidence of AP in both male and female. The role of NC in the incidence of AP is worthy of further investigation.

AbstractBackgroundMass spectrometry (MS) is one of the rapidly developing bio-analytical techniques in recent years and have found many biomarkers of variety of disease. Whereas pre-analytical process is one of most crucial procedure which would significantly influence the results of biomarkers screening. In the current study, we conducted a pilot analysis of serum to determine the effects of blood collection tubes in biomarkers screening.MethodsMagnetic bead separation and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry were used for qualitative analysis of healthy control and serum cancer patients. A total of 24 serum samples were analyzed in this study, of which were collected from patients or healthy control using non-additive tubes or coagulant activator tubes respectively. ClinProTools were used to compare the difference among the different groups.ResultsThe results demonstrated that no matter for patients or normal people, the serum protein profile changed significantly when using coagulant tubes. We also found that the effect of coagulant on serum protein of patients was smaller than that of control group. There were significant differences among 27 peaks which were obtained in the control group and the control coagulant group. However, between patient group and patient coagulant group, only 1 differential peak were obtained. Coagulant changed the protein expression difference in the original serum, and the difference expanded, narrowed even reversed, most of which are small polypeptides (Mass<3000 Da), which significantly changed the results of biomarkers screening. The results showed that 19 potential biomarkers could be found with non-additive tubes and 16 potential biomarkers could be found with coagulate activator tubes, among which only 6 were the same.ConclusionsThe choice of blood collection tube significantly influence the results of biomarkers screening by MS.