Delayed-centrifugation blood collection tube for remote blood biomarker assessment
- 1University of Pittsburgh
Abstract
Introduction: Plasma phosphorylated tau 217 (p-tau217) and amyloid-{beta} 42 (A{beta}42) are advancing toward clinical use for Alzheimer's disease (AD), but their reliability can be impacted by preanalytical handling. Although alternative collection tubes with distinct stabilization strategies --P100 (protease inhibitor) and HEMAcollect (hemolysis/platelet-activation minimization) --have been developed to stabilize plasma proteins, how well they preserve these markers remains unresolved; we therefore compared both against fresh standard EDTA tubes. Methods: In 40 participants, plasma p-tau217 and A{beta}42 were measured (Lumipulse) in paired fresh EDTA, P100, and HEMAcollect samples after 5-day ambient storage. We assessed concentration change, rank-order preservation (Spearman {rho}), percentage difference, and diagnostic classification under the p-tau217/A{beta}42 ratio and p-tau217 alone. Results: P100 preserved p-tau217 favorably, with high rank-order correlation ({rho}=0.98) and a modest median change (+12.1%), and its classification agreement with fresh EDTA reached 97.5% using p-tau217 alone. HEMAcollect showed greater p-tau217 signal loss (-57.5%). A{beta}42 was reduced in both tubes (-72.8% P100; -95.5% HEMAcollect) with loss of rank order, so neither preserved the p-tau217/A{beta}42 ratio. Discussion: Stability was tube- and analyte-specific, and P100 consistently outperformed HEMAcollect --preserving p-tau217 rank order while HEMAcollect reduced signal across analytes. Although neither tube preserved the A{beta}42-dependent ratio, P100 shows potential for p-tau217-based workflows. Preanalytical stability must be established analyte by analyte before alternative tubes enter clinical AD diagnosis.
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BibTeX
@misc{lee2026delayedcentrifugation,
title = {{Delayed-centrifugation blood collection tube for remote blood biomarker assessment}},
author = {Y.-R. Lee and A. Raj and O. Lopez and X. Zeng and T. K. Karikari},
howpublished = {medRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.64898/2026.10.30.26366958},
url = {https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.30.26366958v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Delayed-centrifugation blood collection tube for remote blood biomarker assessment
AU - Y.-R. Lee
AU - A. Raj
AU - O. Lopez
AU - X. Zeng
AU - T. K. Karikari
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/30
PB - medRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.10.30.26366958
UR - https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.30.26366958v1
AB - Introduction: Plasma phosphorylated tau 217 (p-tau217) and amyloid-{beta} 42 (A{beta}42) are advancing toward clinical use for Alzheimer's disease (AD), but their reliability can be impacted by preanalytical handling. Although alternative collection tubes with distinct stabilization strategies --P100 (protease inhibitor) and HEMAcollect (hemolysis/platelet-activation minimization) --have been developed to stabilize plasma proteins, how well they preserve these markers remains unresolved; we therefore compared both against fresh standard EDTA tubes. Methods: In 40 participants, plasma p-tau217 and A{beta}42 were measured (Lumipulse) in paired fresh EDTA, P100, and HEMAcollect samples after 5-day ambient storage. We assessed concentration change, rank-order preservation (Spearman {rho}), percentage difference, and diagnostic classification under the p-tau217/A{beta}42 ratio and p-tau217 alone. Results: P100 preserved p-tau217 favorably, with high rank-order correlation ({rho}=0.98) and a modest median change (+12.1%), and its classification agreement with fresh EDTA reached 97.5% using p-tau217 alone. HEMAcollect showed greater p-tau217 signal loss (-57.5%). A{beta}42 was reduced in both tubes (-72.8% P100; -95.5% HEMAcollect) with loss of rank order, so neither preserved the p-tau217/A{beta}42 ratio. Discussion: Stability was tube- and analyte-specific, and P100 consistently outperformed HEMAcollect --preserving p-tau217 rank order while HEMAcollect reduced signal across analytes. Although neither tube preserved the A{beta}42-dependent ratio, P100 shows potential for p-tau217-based workflows. Preanalytical stability must be established analyte by analyte before alternative tubes enter clinical AD diagnosis.
ER -