Quality control program for fresh frozen tissue and its results of Chonbuk National University hospital national biobank of Korea

Background: Molecular tools for tissue profiling generally require collection of fresh frozen tissues (FFT) as sources of high-quality DNA and RNA. Nowadays, researchers carry out large-scale, multi-center studies and they request inter-institutional minimal intrinsic bias, some fundamental similarities, and the same standardized and validated procedures. Methods: This study reports standardized quality control procedure for fresh frozen tissue of the National Biobank of Korea. Results: The main procedures for quality control for FFT are as follows: records related to sample collection such as labeling of samples, transport temperature, lag time from excision of tissue to freezing, and sample size were reviewed for all fresh frozen samples. The stability of RNA and DNA in fresh frozen tissue was evaluated for 3% of collected samples and purity was assessed (ratio of the absorbance at 260 and 280 nm) as was integrity (agarose gel electrophoresis). Stained hematoxylin and eosin sections were reviewed by a pathologist to confirm the diagnosis and to assess how representative the frozen sample was. Conclusions: We introduced that the quality-control criteria for fresh frozen tissue of the NBK. We expect that this study contributes to standardization of collection, storage, and quality control of fresh frozen tissue.