Modularized Enzymatic Tandem Reaction for tsRNA Detection

Anal Chem. 2022 Nov 15;94(45):15887-15895. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.2c04010. Epub 2022 Nov 3.

Abstract

tRNA-derived small RNA (tsRNA) has emerged as a new biomarker for early diagnosis and prognosis prediction of breast cancer. Like the detection of other small non-coding RNAs, the traditional DNA circuit could be used for the tsRNA detection. However, the highly coupling DNA strands in the circuit increase the difficulty of design and could raise a false-positive signal. Here, we demonstrated a versatile modularized enzymatic tandem reaction, namely, reverse-transcribed nicking exponential truncation (RT-NExT). This enzymatic reaction was constructed by cohesive modules, which can work independently or in assembly. Each module could amplify and initiate the downstream module. The RT-NExT reaction could detect 10-18 M ts-66 or ts-86 within 10 min and exhibited excellent consistency to the qRT-PCR when measuring the tsRNA expression level of breast cancer or healthy patients. RT-NExT provides an appealing detection strategy for further research on the clinical diagnosis with tsRNAs.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Breast Neoplasms* / diagnosis
  • Breast Neoplasms* / genetics
  • Female
  • Humans
  • MicroRNAs* / genetics
  • RNA, Small Untranslated*
  • RNA, Transfer / metabolism

Substances

  • RNA, Transfer
  • MicroRNAs
  • RNA, Small Untranslated