RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 The effect of long-term −80°C storage of thyroid biospecimens on RNA quality and ensuring fitness for purpose
JF Journal of Clinical Pathology
JO J Clin Pathol
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Association of Clinical Pathologists
SP 1105
OP 1108
DO 10.1136/jclinpath-2016-203697
VO 69
IS 12
A1 Mathieson, William
A1 Betsou, Fay
A1 Myshunina, Tamara
A1 Pushkarev, Viktor
A1 Pushkarev, Vladimir
A1 Shinkarkina, Anna
A1 Voskoboynyk, Laryssa
A1 Thomas, Gerry A
YR 2016
UL http://jcp.bmj.com/content/69/12/1105.abstract
AB Aims To establish whether RNA degrades in long-term storage at −80°C and whether RNA integrity numbers (RINs) determine ‘fitness for purpose’ in severely degraded RNA.Methods RNA was extracted from 549 thyroid biospecimens stored at −80°C for 0.1–10.9 years then their RINs correlated with storage time. RT-PCR for 65, 265, 534 and 942 base pair amplicons of hydroxymethylbilane synthase was used to measure amplicon length in RNA from cryopreserved and FFPE biospecimens that were equally degraded according to RIN.Results Storage time did not correlate with RIN. Longer amplicons were obtained from cryopreserved samples than FFPE samples with equal RINs.Conclusions RNA does not degrade in thyroid biospecimens stored for long periods of time at −80°C. Although RINs are known to predict amenability to analytical platforms in good quality samples, this prediction is unreliable in severely degraded samples.