Advantages and disadvantages of using whole blood, plasma, and serum for profiling circulating miRNAs
| Blood medium . | Advantages . | Disadvantages . |
|---|---|---|
| Whole blood | It is not biased by cell lysis. | High levels of blood cell miRNAs might conceal disease-specific patterns. |
| It is possible to use small nuclear RNAs as housekeeping genes (eg, RNU6). | ||
| There is direct use of the primary sample; no further work-up is necessary. | Cell counts have to be considered for biological variation. | |
| Blood serum | There are slightly higher miRNA yields compared to plasma.31 ,32 | The coagulation process in serum production might increase sample-to-sample variations.31 |
| Removal of cells decreases the heterogeneity of the readout. | ||
| The majority of archived samples is stored in the form of serum. | Further work-up is necessary. | |
| It is biased by cell lysis.35 | ||
| Blood plasma | Removal of cells decreases the heterogeneity of the readout. | Frequent contamination with platelets leading to elevates platelet-specific miRNAs.31 ,33 |
| It is not biased by the coagulation process. | ||
| Further work-up is necessary. | ||
| It is biased by cell lysis.34 |
| Blood medium . | Advantages . | Disadvantages . |
|---|---|---|
| Whole blood | It is not biased by cell lysis. | High levels of blood cell miRNAs might conceal disease-specific patterns. |
| It is possible to use small nuclear RNAs as housekeeping genes (eg, RNU6). | ||
| There is direct use of the primary sample; no further work-up is necessary. | Cell counts have to be considered for biological variation. | |
| Blood serum | There are slightly higher miRNA yields compared to plasma.31 ,32 | The coagulation process in serum production might increase sample-to-sample variations.31 |
| Removal of cells decreases the heterogeneity of the readout. | ||
| The majority of archived samples is stored in the form of serum. | Further work-up is necessary. | |
| It is biased by cell lysis.35 | ||
| Blood plasma | Removal of cells decreases the heterogeneity of the readout. | Frequent contamination with platelets leading to elevates platelet-specific miRNAs.31 ,33 |
| It is not biased by the coagulation process. | ||
| Further work-up is necessary. | ||
| It is biased by cell lysis.34 |