title: A review of room temperature storage of biospecimen tissue and nucleic acids for anatomic pathology laboratories and biorepositories.
abstract: Frozen biospecimens are crucial for translational research and contain well-preserved nucleic acids and protein. However, the risks of freezer failure as well as space, cost, and environmental concerns of frozen biospecimens are substantial.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of the study was to review the current status of room temperature biospecimen storage.
  
  
  METHODS
  We searched Pubmed and vendor websites to identify relevant information.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissues have great value but their use is limited by cross-linking and fragmentation of nucleic acids, as well as loss of enzymatic activity. Stabilization solutions can now robustly preserve fresh tissue for up to 7days at room temperature. For longer term storage, commercial vendors of chemical matrices claim real time stability of nucleic acids of over 2 years and their accelerated aging studies to date suggest stability for 12years for RNA and 60years for DNA. However, anatomic pathology biorepositories store mostly frozen tissue rather than nucleic acids. Small quantities of tissue can be directly placed on some chemical matrices to stabilize DNA, however RNA and proteins are not preserved. Current lyophilization approaches can preserve histomorphology, DNA, RNA, and proteins though RNA shows moderate degradation after 1-2years. Formalin-free fixatives show improved but varying abilities to preserve nucleic acids and face validation as well as cost barriers in replacing FFPE specimens. The paraffin embedding process can degrade RNA.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Development of robust long-term room temperature biospecimen tissue storage technology can potentially reduce costs for the biomedical community in the face of growing targeted therapy needs and decreasing budgets.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (Neuropathology), David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles CA, USA. Electronic address: jlou@mednet.ucla.edu.
authors.forename: Jerry J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Lou
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (Neuropathology), David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles CA, USA. Electronic address: lmirsadraei@ucsd.edu.
authors.forename: Leili
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mirsadraei
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (Neuropathology), David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles CA, USA. Electronic address: desireesanchez@mednet.ucla.edu.
authors.forename: Desiree E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Sanchez
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (Neuropathology), David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles CA, USA. Electronic address: rwwilson@mednet.ucla.edu.
authors.forename: Ryan W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (Neuropathology), David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles CA, USA. Electronic address: mshabihkhani@mednet.ucla.edu.
authors.forename: Maryam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shabihkhani
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (Neuropathology), David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles CA, USA. Electronic address: GLucey@mednet.ucla.edu.
authors.forename: Gregory M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Lucey
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (Neuropathology), David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles CA, USA. Electronic address: Bowenwei@mednet.ucla.edu.
authors.forename: Bowen
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, 710 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1769, USA; Brain Research Institute, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles CA, USA. Electronic address: ESinger@mednet.ucla.edu.
authors.forename: Elyse J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Singer
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (Neuropathology), David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles CA, USA. Electronic address: smareninov@mednet.ucla.edu.
authors.forename: Sergey
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mareninov
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (Neuropathology), David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles CA, USA; Brain Research Institute, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles CA, USA; Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles CA, USA. Electronic address: wyong@mednet.ucla.edu.
authors.forename: William H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Yong
mesh_terms: D018070:Biological Specimen Banks / Q000458:organization & administration*; D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005404:Fixatives / Q000737:chemistry; D005612:Freeze Drying; D006801:Humans; D016612:Paraffin Embedding; D055550:Protein Stability; D011786:Quality Control; D020871:RNA Stability; D013048:Specimen Handling / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D013696:Temperature; D013997:Time Factors; D014021:Tissue Preservation / Q000191:economics / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D005404:Fixatives
keywords: Biobank; Biorepository; Biospecimen; Room temperature; Tissue