Coding and noncoding landscape of extracellular RNA released by human glioma stem cells. Issue 1 (December 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wei, Zhiyun; Batagov, Arsen; Schinelli, Sergio; Wang, Jintu; Wang, Yang; El Fatimy, Rachid; Rabinovsky, Rosalia; Balaj, Leonora; Chen, Clark; Hochberg, Fred; Carter, Bob; Breakefield, Xandra; Krichevsky, Anna
• Is Part Of: Nature communications. Volume 8:Issue 1(2017)
• Page Start: 1
• Page End: 15
• Publication Date: 2017-12
• Subjects: Biology -- Periodicals; Physical sciences -- Periodicals; 505
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-01196-x
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2041-1723

Abstract

Abstract Tumor-released RNA may mediate intercellular communication and serve as biomarkers. Here we develop a protocol enabling quantitative, minimally biased analysis of extracellular RNAs (exRNAs) associated with microvesicles, exosomes (collectively called EVs), and ribonucleoproteins (RNPs). The exRNA complexes isolated from patient-derived glioma stem-like cultures exhibit distinct compositions, with microvesicles most closely reflecting cellular transcriptome. exRNA is enriched in small ncRNAs, such as miRNAs in exosomes, and precisely processed tRNA and Y RNA fragments in EVs and exRNPs. EV-enclosed mRNAs are mostly fragmented, and UTRs enriched; nevertheless, some full-length mRNAs are present. Overall, there is less than one copy of non-rRNA per EV. Our results suggest that massive EV/exRNA uptake would be required to ensure functional impact of transferred RNA on brain recipient cells and predict the most impactful miRNAs in such conditions. This study also provides a catalog of diverse exRNAs useful for biomarker discovery and validates its feasibility on cerebrospinal fluid. While circulating DNA has been extensively explored as a potential cancer biomarker, RNA potential has been overlooked so far. Here the authors present a comprehensive analysis of extracellular RNA secreted by glioblastoma cells that could prove a valuable resource for biomarker discovery and a means of intercellular communication.