High-Throughput Microfluidic Extraction of Platelet-free Plasma for MicroRNA and Extracellular Vesicle Analysis.

Cell-free RNAs and extracellular vesicles (EVs) are valuable biomarkers in liquid biopsies, but they are prone to preanalytical variabilities such as nonstandardized centrifugation or blood degradation. Herein, we report a high-throughput and label-free inertial microfluidic device (ExoArc) for isolation of platelet-free plasma from blood for RNA and EV analysis. Unlike conventional inertial microfluidic devices widely used for cell sorting, a submicrometer size cutoff (500 nm) was achieved which completely removed all leukocytes, RBCs, platelets, and cellular debris based on differential lateral migration induced by Dean vortices.

Circulating Biomarkers for Prediction of Immunotherapy Response in NSCLC.

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) constitutes the majority of the lung cancer population and the prognosis is poor. In recent years, immunotherapy has become the standard of care for advanced NSCLC patients as numerous trials demonstrated that immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) are more efficacious than conventional chemotherapy. However, only a minority of NSCLC patients benefit from this treatment.

A large transcribed enhancer region regulates C. elegans bed-3 and the development of egg laying muscles.

Gene expression is regulated by the interaction of the RNA polymerase with various transcription factors at promoter and enhancer elements. Transcriptome analyses found that many non-protein-coding regions are transcribed to produce long non-coding RNAs and enhancer-associated RNAs. Production of these transcripts is associated with activation of nearby protein-coding genes, and at least in some cases, the transcripts themselves mediate this activation.

p21-activated kinase interacts with Wnt signaling to regulate tissue polarity and gene expression.

Wnt signaling is mediated by three classes of receptors, Frizzled, Ryk, and Ror. In Caenorhabditis elegans, Wnt signaling regulates the anterior/posterior polarity of the P7.p vulval lineage, and mutations in lin-17/Frizzled cause loss or reversal of P7.