A Lipemia-Independent Nanodrop (R)-Based Score To Identify Hemolysis In Plasma And Serum Samples

Background: The identification and management of hemolyzed samples are crucial issues in the development of new blood-based biomarkers. Results: Using experiments of controlled hemolysis and lipemia and two plasma series from cancer patients, we developed and validated a lipemia-independent hemolysis score (HS). HS resulted strictly associated with the amount of lysed erythrocytes and with serum index measurement (reference method), highly reproducible, and able to identify as hemolyzed plasma/serum samples containing 6.1 mg/dl of free hemoglobin. Conclusion: We developed a simple, robust, sensitive, cost-effective, spectrophotometrically-based system to identify hemolyzed plasma/serum specimens. The procedure requires only 2 l of sample, thus representing a useful tool for research studies and an essential pre-analytical quality control for an optimal biobanking of liquid biopsies.