posted on 2020-06-23, 00:13authored byNathan Debunne, Anton De Spiegeleer, Dorian Depuydt, Yorick Janssens, Amélie Descamps, Evelien Wynendaele, Bart De Spiegeleer
Finding
adequate biomarkers for rapid and accurate disease detection,
prognosis, and therapy is increasingly important. Quorum-sensing peptides
are herein a new emerging group, produced by bacteria, fungi, protozoa,
and viruses, with blood being the most straightforward sample type
to detect/quantitate them. However, detailed information about suitable
blood sample collection methods and storage conditions for measuring
these quorum-sensing peptides hampers further clinical research and
development. Here, we first tested the time-dependent stability of
a set of chemically diverse quorum-sensing peptides, spiked in blood
at different temperatures (4, 21, and 37 °C) in four different
ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA)-containing plasma tubes (with
different protein-stabilizing additives) over a period of up to 7.5
h. Next, we determined the storage stability of these quorum-sensing
peptides in plasma at different temperatures (4, −35, and −80
°C). UPLC/MS–MS was used to selectively detect and quantify
the spiked quorum-sensing peptides. The results of this study indicate
that a cost-effective tube, designed for traditional proteomics and
stored at 4 °C, is the preferred collection condition when quorum-sensing
peptides need to be detected/quantified in human plasma. When the
tubes are handled at room temperature (21 °C), a more specialized
tube is required. Long-term storage of plasma samples, even under
low-temperature conditions (−80 °C), indicates rapid degradation
of certain quorum-sensing peptides.