ArticleBMC research notes2026
Raising the alarm: endotoxin contamination in lithium heparin tubes is a threat to cell-based assay reliability.
Article in BMC research notes, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveIn vitro cytokine release assays are essential tools in immunological research, yet their reliability can be influenced by various pre-analytical factors. This study was initiated to investigate the potential impact of lithium heparin whole blood collection tubes from different manufacturers on assay performance. The objective of this work is to urge the scientific community to consider whole blood collection tubes as a significant and often underestimated source of variability in cell-based assays. RESULTS DESCRIPTION: 210 whole blood samples from healthy donors were collected in plastic lithium heparin tubes sourced from 20 different suppliers worldwide. Testing revealed that 8 out of 20 of these tubes contained endotoxin levels >0.1 EU/mL, which triggered significant variability in cytokine responses (IFN-γ and IL-6) in cell-based assays. A dose-response curve using LPS from E. coli confirmed the impact of endotoxins on interferon-γ production.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.