Multimeric Stability of Human C-reactive Protein in Archived Specimens |
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Authors: | Qiling Li Ting Kang Xiaohua Tian Yamin Ma Min Li Jendai Richards Tameka Bythwood Yueling Wang Xu Li Dong Liu Li Ma Qing Song |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, First Affiliated Hospital, Xi''an Jiaotong University, Xi''an, Shaanxi, China.; 2. Cardiovascular Research Institute, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America.; 3. School of Information Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, China.; The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, United States of America, |
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Abstract: | BackgroundC-reactive protein (CRP) is a marker of inflammation and a risk predictor of cardiovascular disease. Current CRP assays are focused on the quantification of the CRP levels as pentamers. However, CRP can be present as other multimeric forms. There will be a market need to measure the CRP multimeric structure in addition to the levels in human populations. To meet this need, we investigated whether the long-term archived samples could be used instead of freshly collected samples.Methodology/Principal FindingsThe specimens of serum, plasma and tissues were collected from transgenic rats expressing the human CRP. These samples were stored at 4°C, −20°C and −80°C for different periods. Non-denaturing Western blot analysis was used to observe the influence of storage conditions to multimeric structures of human CRP. Our results showed that there was no difference on multimeric structures of human CRP between samples stored at 4°C, −20°C and −80°C, between samples stored at −80°C for twenty-four hours and three months, and between plasma and serum.Conclusions/SignificanceThis study implicated that archived samples stored at these conditions in those large longitudinal studies could be used for investigating the multimeric structures of CRP. Our report may speed up these researches and save labors and budget by enabling them to use currently available archived samples rather than freshly collected samples. |
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