New BASS test
To detect microRNA biomarkers of ALS, it is not necessary to store samples at -80°C
Yulia Panchenko, PCR.news
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease with a life expectancy of 2-5 years after diagnosis. At the same time, the process of diagnosis is quite complicated and usually takes 10-16 months, since it is necessary to exclude other diseases with similar symptoms. And still an incorrect diagnosis is made in 13-68% of cases. In 2020, scientists from Brain Chemistry Labs developed a test for ALS that detected specific microRNAs in extracellular vesicles. However, the testing protocol required the storage and transportation of blood samples at a temperature of -80 °C, which sharply reduced its availability. In a new paper, scientists from Brain Chemistry Labs, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and CDC repeated the test with less stringent sample storage requirements and showed that it still works.
Blood plasma samples of patients with ALS were obtained from the US National Biorepository; a total of 35 samples of men and 15 samples of women with ALS were selected. In addition, control samples, 30 male and 20 female, were also analyzed. None of the patients had relatives with ALS, which indicates the sporadic nature of the disease. The authors were looking for eight microRNAs that were identified in early experiments. The samples were stored and transported at a temperature of 4-8°C.
Extracellular vesicles were enriched by immunoaffinity purification with L1CAM antibodies, then all RNA was isolated and the number of targeted microRNAs was measured. As a result, the researchers showed that five of the eight microRNAs (hsa-miRNA-4454, hsa-miRNA-151a-5p, hsa-miRNA-146a-5p, hsa-miRNA-10b-5p and hsa-miRNA-29b-3p) can distinguish samples of patients with ALS from controls.
Despite the fact that the samples were taken by different researchers under different conditions, the microRNA test worked. The authors suggested that extracellular vesicles protect their cargo well enough. In addition, they used highly reproducible methods and internal controls when creating their test. However, additional studies are needed to confirm the possibility of using these microRNAs for early diagnosis and prediction of disease progression.
Banack et al. miRNA extracted from extracellular vesicles is a robust biomarker of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis published in the Journal of the Neurological Sciences
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