Stability of Global Methylation Profiles of Whole Blood and Extracted DNA Under Different Storage Durations and Conditions

Abstract

Aim: To test whether DNA samples stored for a prolonged period (20 years) under various storage conditions could be used for comparative methylation studies using reduced representation bisulfite sequencing. Patients & methods: Five groups of human blood DNA samples (n = 5–6/group) were compared. The groupings were based on the anticoagulant used and storage temperature and duration. Results: Methylation profiles of defined genomic regions in the DNA or blood samples archived for 20 years were similar across all storage temperatures, including 4°C. The level of intersample similarity in archived samples was not significantly different than that in recently collected samples. Conclusion: Archived samples, including DNA stored at 4°C for 20 years, are suitable for comparative studies of DNA methylation.

Keywords::

• methylation profiles
• stability
• storage conditions

Supplementary data

To view the supplementary data that accompany this paper please visit the journal website at: www.tandfonline.com/doi/suppl/10.2217/epi-2018-0025

Financial & competing interests disclosure

This work was supported by the American Heart Association (15SFRN23910002). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Ethical conduct of research

The authors state that they have obtained appropriate institutional review board approval or have followed the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki for all human or animal experimental investigations. In addition, for investigations involving human subjects, informed consent has been obtained from the participants involved.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the American Heart Association (15SFRN23910002). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed. No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.