Effects of biobanking on chromatin accessibility

The goal of this study was to test the effects of biobanking on chromatin assessibility, as defined by ATAC-seq. Human naïve B cells were FACS sorted from PBMCs that were either frozen or processed fresh. A range of cell numbers were used to identify technical limitations and reproducibility of the ATAC-seq assay on biobanked PBMCs comapred to freshly sorted material. To provide insight into a disease process, naive B cells were isolated from healthy donors or a biorepository of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus undergoing disease flares. These data identify a unique signature of accessible chromatin in SLE B cells. Overall design: ATAC-Seq on fresh and frozen B cells