Shipping blood to a central laboratory in multicenter clinical trials: effect of ambient temperature on specimen temperature, and effects of temperature on mononuclear cell yield, viability and immunologic function

Table 1 Effect of exposure to different incubation conditions on PBMC isolation from whole blood and recovery after cryo-preservation

	Cell Yield before Cryopreservation			Cell Recovery after Thawing
Exptl RT	2 h 22 h	8 h 16 h	12 h 12 h	2 h 22 h	8 h 16 h	12 h 12 h
15°C	0.85 (0.60, 1.10) p = 0.22	0.88 (0.63, 1.13) p = 0.32	0.59 (0.34, 0.84) p = 0.003	1.00 (0.70, 1.30) p = 0.99	1.02 (0.72, 1.32) p = 0.88	0.66 (0.36, 0.97) p = 0.031
30°C	0.90 (0.65, 1.15) p = 0.40	1.02 (0.76, 1.27) p = 0.90	1.00 (0.75, 1.25) p = 1	1.12 (0.82, 1.42) p = 0.41	1.20 (0.90, 1.50) p = 0.19	1.19 (0.88, 1.49) p = 0.21
40°C	0.87 (0.62, 1.12) p = 0.30	0.83 (0.58, 1.08) p = 0.16	0.79 (0.53, 1.06) p = 0.12	0.91 (0.61, 1.22) p = 0.56	0.78 (0.48, 1.08) p = 0.14	0.63 (0.32, 0.95) p = 0.026

Blood from 6 normal donors was incubated 24 h at RT (22°C, control), and for 2-12 h at 15, 22, 30 or 40°C (Exptl = Experimental), then at RT for the remainder of 24 h. PBMC were harvested and, cryopreserved, and thawed at least 1 week later. The estimated means and 95% confidence intervals of ratios of cell yield to the control sample (RT × 24 h) are shown, both before cryopreservation and upon recovery of cells after cryopreservation. P-values are in boldface when statistically significant.

ISSN: 1479-5876