title: Biobanking in genomic medicine.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Genomic medicine requires the identification of biomarkers and therapeutic targets, which in turn, requires high-quality biospecimens. Achieving high-quality biospecimens requires implementing standard operating procedures to control the variations of preanalytic variables in biobanking. Currently, most biobanks do not control the variations of preanalytic variables when collecting, processing, and storing their biospecimens. However, those variations have been shown to affect the quality of biospecimens and gene expression profiling.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To identify evidence-based preanalytic parameters that can be applied and those parameters that need further study.
  
  
  METHODS
  We searched the Biospecimen Research and PubMed databases using defined key words. We retrieved and reviewed 212 articles obtained through those searches. We included 58 articles (27%) according to our inclusion and exclusion criteria for this review.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  -Preanalytic variables in biobanking can degrade the quality of biospecimens and alter gene expression profiling. Variables that require further study include the effect of surgical manipulation; the effect of warm ischemia; the allowable duration of delayed specimen processing; the optimal type, duration, and temperature of preservation and fixation; and the optimal storage duration of formalin-fixed, paraffin embedded specimens in a fit-for-purpose approach.
authors.affiliation: From the Departments of Pathology (Drs Zhou and Sahin) and Head and Neck Surgery (Dr Myers), University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston. Dr Zhou is now with Human Genome Sequencing Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston.
authors.forename: Jane H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Aysegul A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Sahin
authors.forename: Jeffrey N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Myers
mesh_terms: D018070:Biological Specimen Banks / Q000592:standards*; D015925:Cryopreservation / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling / Q000379:methods; D023281:Genomics / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D062346:Molecular Medicine / Q000379:methods*; D016612:Paraffin Embedding / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D011786:Quality Control; D013048:Specimen Handling / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D016707:Tissue Fixation / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards