Detection of low-concentration host mRNA transcripts in Malawian children at risk for environmental enteropathy.

Background And Objective: Transcriptomic analysis of fecal samples is an emerging method for the diagnosis of gastrointestinal pathology because it is noninvasive and requires minute volumes of analyte; however, detection of mRNA in low copy numbers in human stool is challenging. Our objective was to develop a method for detecting human mRNA suggestive of environmental enteropathy (EE) in feces.

Methods: Stool samples from 70 Malawian children, 34 without EE and 36 with EE, as defined by dual sugar absorption, were used to develop the methodology for mRNA detection.