Assessment of methods for serum extracellular vesicle small RNA sequencing to support biomarker development.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have great potential as a source for clinically relevant biomarkers since they can be readily isolated from biofluids and carry microRNA (miRNA), mRNA, and proteins that can reflect disease status. However, the biological and technical variability of EV content is unknown making comparisons between healthy subjects and patients difficult to interpret. In this study, we sought to establish a laboratory and bioinformatics analysis pipeline to analyse the small RNA content within EVs from patient serum that could serve as biomarkers and to assess the biological and technical variability of EV RNA content in healthy individuals.

The inadequacy of the reductionist approach in discovering new therapeutic agents against complex diseases.

For more than 20 years, drug discovery has relied on two assumptions, i.e. (i) a therapeutic response can be triggered by modulating the activity of a single gene product, and (ii) a compound uncovered by its activity on a recombinant protein in vitro can perform its activity in vivo.

Inter-Laboratory Variability in Array-Based RNA Quantification Methods.

Ribonucleic acids (RNA) are hypothesized to have preceded their derivatives, deoxyribonucleic acids (DNA), as the molecular media of genetic information when life emerged on earth. Molecular biologists are accustomed to the dramatic effects a subtle variation in the ribose moiety composition between RNA and DNA can have on the stability of these molecules. While DNA is very stable after extraction from biological samples and subsequent treatment, RNA is notoriously labile.

Monoclonal antibody proteomics: discovery and prevalidation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease biomarkers in a single step.

We define mAb proteomics as the global generation of disease specific antibodies that permit mass screening of biomarkers. An integrated, high-throughput, disease-specific mAb-based biomarker discovery platform has been developed. The approach readily provided new biomarker leads with the focus on large-scale discovery and production of mAb-based, disease-specific clinical assay candidates.