Evaluating the effects of preanalytical variables on the stability of the human plasma proteome

High quality clinical biospecimens are vital for biomarker discovery, verification, and validation. Variations in blood processing and handling can affect protein abundances and assay reliability. Using an untargeted LC-MS approach, we systematically measured the impact of preanalytical variables on the plasma proteome. Time prior to processing was the only variable that affected the plasma protein levels. LC-MS quantification showed that preprocessing times