The Effects of Pre-analytical Variables on the Diagnosis of Inborn Errors of Metabolism; A Review Study
عنوان: The Effects of Pre-analytical Variables on the Diagnosis of Inborn Errors of Metabolism; A Review Study
نویسندگان: Armin Mokhtariye, Abdol-Reza Varasteh, Sima Marzban, Fatemeh Keyfi
ناشر: Clin Chim Acta
سال: 2017
دوره:10
شماره:3
Abstract
Background
Delaying plasma separation after phlebotomy (processing delay) can cause perturbations of numerous small molecule analytes. This poses a major challenge to the clinical application of metabolomics analyses. In this study, we further define the analyte changes that occur during processing delays and generate a model for the post hoc detection of this preanalytical error.
Methods
Using an untargeted metabolomics platform we analyzed EDTA-preserved plasma specimens harvested after processing delays lasting from minutes to days. Identified biomarkers were tested on (i) a test-set of samples exposed to either minimal (n=28) or long delays (n=40) and (ii) samples collected in a clinical setting for metabolomics analysis (n= 141).
Results
A total of 149 of 803 plasma analytes changed significantly during processing delays lasting 0–20 h. Biomarkers related to erythrocyte metabolism, e.g., 5-oxoproline, lactate, and an ornithine/arginine ratio, were the strongest predictors of plasma separation delays, providing 100% diagnostic accuracy in the test set. Together these biomarkers could accurately predict processing delays >2 h in a pilot study and we found evidence of sample mishandling in 4 of 141 clinically derived specimens.
Conclusions
Our study highlights the widespread effects of processing delays and proposes that erythrocyte metabolism creates a reproducible signal that can identify mishandled specimens in metabolomics studies.