Comparison Between Currently Used Blood Samples And New Saliva Dna Collection Method For Quality Of Genomic Dna And Genotyping

Obtaining blood biospecimens presents logistical and financial challenges. As a result, saliva biospecimen collection is becoming more frequent because of the ease of collection and lower cost. This article describes an assessment of two different methods for collecting samples: whole blood and whole saliva samples used further for DNA extraction and HLA genotyping in immunogenic disease on a group of patients registered at our Molecular Genetics Laboratory Faculty of Medicine “Ovidius” University Constanţa. Our data show that only 81% of the requested participants delivered a blood sample, whereas 19% delivered a saliva sample because they refuse the first sampling method. Analysis of purified genomic DNA by Nano Photometer and agarose gel electrophoresis revealed that blood and saliva samples resulted in DNA with the best quality. PCR analysis showed that DNA from 100% of the blood samples and 93% of the saliva samples could be subsequently amplified. Our study shows that the response rate of self-collection saliva samples had to be considering for the patients that have a low response rate of blood sampling. The quality of genomic DNA from saliva samples was comparable with blood samples as assessed by purity, concentration, yield and PCR amplification. We conclude that the use of saliva samples is a good alternative to blood samples to obtain genomic DNA of high quality and it will considerably increase the participant’s response rate for genetic studies.