Tournoy Tijs K, Martens Dries S, De Backer Julie, Coucke Paul
Department of Cardiology, Ghent University Hospital, Corneel Heymanslaan 10, Ghent, 9000, Belgium.
Centre for Environmental Sciences, Hasselt University, Hasselt, 3500, Belgium.
Sci Rep. 2025 Jul 1;15(1):20427. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-08303-9.
Telomere length (TL) is investigated as a biomarker for aging and disease-susceptibility, but measurement using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) faces challenges in accuracy and reproducibility. The potential impact of pre-analytical factors on TL measurements remains underexplored. We evaluated the impact of delayed blood processing, a typical feature in population studies. Blood samples from 35 adults were processed for buffy coat extraction either immediately or kept at 4 °C and processed after three and seven days (total n = 105). After processing, samples were stored at -80 °C. Relative TL was measured via qPCR and expressed as T/S ratio. Strikingly, delayed blood processing led to a significant increase in TL: the mean T/S ratio was 0.886 ± 0.205 at day 0, rising to 1.022 ± 0.240 at day 3 (p = 0.03) and to 1.190 ± 0.205 at day 7 (p < 0.001), corresponding to increases of 15% and 34%, respectively. Notably, TL correlated inversely with DNA integrity. These findings underscore the critical impact of delayed sample processing on TL measurements, emphasizing the need for consistent pre-analytical protocols to ensure accurate and reliable research outcomes. The impact of our findings is considerable as it may overshadow not only previously reported results but also real biological differences in TL between studied groups of patients.
端粒长度（TL）作为衰老和疾病易感性的生物标志物受到研究，但使用定量聚合酶链反应（qPCR）进行测量在准确性和可重复性方面面临挑战。分析前因素对TL测量的潜在影响仍未得到充分探索。我们评估了延迟血液处理（人群研究中的一个典型特征）的影响。35名成年人的血样立即进行处理以提取 Buffy 层，或保存在4°C下，在三天和七天后进行处理（总共n = 105）。处理后，样本储存在-80°C。通过qPCR测量相对TL，并表示为T/S比值。令人惊讶的是，延迟血液处理导致TL显著增加：第0天的平均T/S比值为0.886±0.205，第3天升至1.022±0.240（p = 0.03），第7天升至1.190±0.205（p < 0.001），分别对应增加15%和34%。值得注意的是，TL与DNA完整性呈负相关。这些发现强调了延迟样本处理对TL测量的关键影响，强调需要一致的分析前方案以确保准确可靠的研究结果。我们的发现影响重大，因为它不仅可能掩盖先前报告的结果，还可能掩盖所研究患者组之间TL的实际生物学差异。
