Impact of Delayed Whole Blood Processing Time on Plasma Levels of miR- 1 and miR-423-5p up to 24 Hours.

Background: Circulating cell-free miRNAs hold great promise as a new class of biomarkers due to their high stability in body fluids and association with disease stages. However, even using sensitive and specific methods, technical challenges are associated with miRNA analysis in body fluids. A major source of variation in plasma and serum is the potential cell-derived miRNA contamination from hemolysis.