Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are key mediators of intercellular communication. Part of their biological effects can be attributed to the transfer of cargos of diverse types of RNAs, which are promising diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers. EVs found in human biofluids are a valuable source for the development of minimally invasive assays. However, the total transcriptional landscape of EVs is still largely unknown. Here we develop a new method for total transcriptome profiling of plasma-derived EVs by next generation sequencing (NGS) from limited quantities of patient-derived clinical samples, which enables the unbiased characterization of the complete RNA cargo, including both small- and long-RNAs, in a single library preparation step. This approach was applied to RNA extracted from EVs isolated by ultracentrifugation from the plasma of five healthy volunteers. Among the most abundant RNAs identified we found small RNAs such as tRNAs, miRNAs and miscellaneous RNAs, which have largely unknown functions. We also identified protein-coding and long noncoding transcripts, as well as circular RNA species that were also experimentally validated. This method enables, for the first time, the full spectrum of transcriptome data to be obtained from minute patient-derived samples, and will therefore potentially allow the identification of cell-to-cell communication mechanisms and biomarkers.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 2. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 07 November 2017.
All research outputs
#14,266,012
of 23,305,591 outputs
Outputs from Scientific Reports
#66,167
of 125,960 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#176,947
of 329,767 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Scientific Reports
#2,153
of 4,481 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 23,305,591 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 37th percentile – i.e., 37% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 125,960 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 18.3. This one is in the 45th percentile – i.e., 45% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 329,767 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 44th percentile – i.e., 44% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 4,481 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 49th percentile – i.e., 49% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
