Profiling extracellular long RNA transcriptome in human plasma and extracellular vesicles for biomarker discovery

The recent discovery of extracellular RNAs in blood, including RNAs in extracellular vesicles (EVs), combined with low input RNA sequencing advances have enabled scientists to investigate their role in human disease. To date, most studies have been focusing on small RNAs, and methodologies to optimize long RNAs measurement are lacking. Harvard Medical School researchers used plasma RNA to assess the performance of six long RNA sequencing methods, at two different sites, and they report their differences in reads (%) mapped to the genome/transcriptome, number of genes detected, long RNA transcript diversity, and reproducibility. Using the best performing method, the researchers further compare the profile of long RNAs in the EV- and no-EV-enriched RNA plasma compartments. These results provide insights on the performance and reproducibility of commercially available kits in assessing the landscape of long RNAs in human plasma and different extracellular RNA carriers that may be exploited for biomarker discovery.