Pilot Study to Determine the Efficacy, Feasibility, and Impact of Storage Conditions on At-Home Blood Collection Kits for Proteomic Studies - Research Findings

Q: What was the goal of this pilot study?

To determine how storage conditions affect proteome measurements from at-home blood collection kits, comparing capillary collection with Tasso+ to gold-standard venous samples.

Q: How were the capillary and venous samples collected and analyzed?

Capillary blood was collected with a Tasso+ device and compared with venous blood drawn by a trained phlebotomist; protein levels were measured using the SomaScan 7K proteomic assay.

Q: What storage or shipping factors had the largest impact on the serum proteome?

Processing delays greater than 48 hours produced large changes in detected protein levels across the serum proteome, while lower holding temperatures (e.g., refrigeration above 4°C in the study description) reduced the magnitude of these changes.

Oct 26, 2026

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At-home blood collection kits can improve the efficiency of blood collection for diagnostics or research by lowering costs and participant burden and avoiding phlebotomist and on-site processing. Evidence is limited for proteome-wide analyses. This pilot study compared capillary blood collected with a Tasso+ device against venous samples processed immediately, then tested storage temperatures and holding times to model shipping effects. Capillary and venous proteomes were similar for immediate processing; delays beyond 48 hours caused major protein changes, while holding at lower temperatures reduced proteome alterations.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages41

Reading Time1 h 43 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Introduction

Pilot Study to Determine the Eﬃ cacy, Feasibility, and Impact of Storage Conditions on At-Home Blood Collection Kits for Proteomic Studies Caroline Scranton The University of Arizona Xiaoxiao Sun The University of Arizona Dominic Rodriguez The University of Arizona Kristen Pogreba Brown The University of Arizona Erika Austhof The University of Arizona Caitlyn M McFadden The University of Arizona Victoria Obergh The University of Arizona Kerry K Cooper The University of Arizona Research Article Keywords: Proteomics, capillary, shipping, blood collection, storage Posted Date: August 19th, 2026 DOI: [https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8737461/v1](https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8737461/v1) License: 􀁱 􀅏 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Read Full License Additional Declarations: No competing interests reported. 1 Pilot Study to Determine the Efficacy, Feasibility, and Impact of Storage Conditions on At- 2 Home Blood Collection Kits for Proteomic Studies 3 4 Caroline Scranton 1, Xiaoxiao Sun2, Dominic Rodriguez 1, Kristen Pogreba Brown2,3, Erika 5 Austhof2, Caitlyn M McFadden2, Victoria Obergh 1, Kerry K Cooper 1,3* 6 7 1School of Animal and Comparative Biomedical Sciences, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 8 USA 9 2Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA 10 3 BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA 11 12 *Corresponding author: 13 Kerry K Cooper 14 1117 E. Lowell St. 15 Tucson, AZ 85721 16 Phone: +1-520-621-3342 17 [Email: kcooper@arizona.edu](Email: kcooper@arizona.edu)[ ](Email: kcooper@arizona.edu)18 19 Short title: Effects of storage conditions of capillary blood for proteomics 20 21 Key words: Proteomics, capillary, shipping, blood collection, storage 22 23 Abbreviations: PCA (principal components analysis), RFU (relative fluorescence units), L2FC 24 (log 2-fold change), SST (serum separating tube), KEGG (Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and 25 genomes) 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 Abstract 47 Background: At-home blood collection kits have the potential to greatly increase the efficiency 48 of blood collection for diagnostic or research purposes by reducing the cost and burden on 49 participants, researchers, or physicians and eliminating the need for a phlebotomist, specialized 50 equipment, and on-site processing. These kits have shown to be effective for studying specific 51 blood metabolites and proteins, but for analyses targeting the entire proteome, their effectiveness 52 is unknown. 53 Methods: For this pilot study, data on human serum proteome was compared when blood was 54 capillary-collected with a Tasso+ device (Tasso Inc.) versus the gold-standard venous samples 55 drawn by a trained phlebotomist. Analyses were conducted using the SomaScan 7K assay 56 (SomaLogic Inc.), which assesses the levels of nearly 7,600 serum proteins. Additionally, duplicate 57 Tasso+ blood samples were also subjected to a variety of pre-processing storage temperatures and 58 times to mimic the effects of shipping samples from participants on the serum proteome compared 59 to baseline samples. 60 Results: Minimal differences were seen between the serum proteome results of capillary and 61 venous blood for all participants. Delays in processing of greater than 48 hours led to large changes 62 in detected protein levels throughout the serum proteome, while lower holding temperatures 63 (refrigeration at >4oC) pre-processing decreased the amount of change in the serum proteome. 64 Conclusions: Overall, it was determined that when processed immediately, capillary blood gives 65 similar results to venous blood, while minimizing the time ( <48 hrs) and temperature ( <4oC) can 66 minimize the serum proteome changes in samples collected by

FAQs

What was the goal of this pilot study?

To determine how storage conditions affect proteome measurements from at-home blood collection kits, comparing capillary collection with Tasso+ to gold-standard venous samples.

How were the capillary and venous samples collected and analyzed?

Capillary blood was collected with a Tasso+ device and compared with venous blood drawn by a trained phlebotomist; protein levels were measured using the SomaScan 7K proteomic assay.

What storage or shipping factors had the largest impact on the serum proteome?

Processing delays greater than 48 hours produced large changes in detected protein levels across the serum proteome, while lower holding temperatures (e.g., refrigeration above 4°C in the study description) reduced the magnitude of these changes.

Oct 26, 2026

Upload by Ophelia