- Srinivasan, Srimeenakshi;
- Yeri, Ashish;
- Cheah, Pike See;
- Chung, Allen;
- Danielson, Kirsty;
- De Hoff, Peter;
- Filant, Justyna;
- Laurent, Clara D;
- Laurent, Lucie D;
- Magee, Rogan;
- Moeller, Courtney;
- Murthy, Venkatesh L;
- Nejad, Parham;
- Paul, Anu;
- Rigoutsos, Isidore;
- Rodosthenous, Rodosthenis;
- Shah, Ravi V;
- Simonson, Bridget;
- To, Cuong;
- Wong, David;
- Yan, Irene K;
- Zhang, Xuan;
- Balaj, Leonora;
- Breakefield, Xandra O;
- Daaboul, George;
- Gandhi, Roopali;
- Lapidus, Jodi;
- Londin, Eric;
- Patel, Tushar;
- Raffai, Robert L;
- Sood, Anil K;
- Alexander, Roger P;
- Das, Saumya;
- Laurent, Louise C
Poor reproducibility within and across studies arising from lack of knowledge regarding the performance of extracellular RNA (exRNA) isolation methods has hindered progress in the exRNA field. A systematic comparison of 10 exRNA isolation methods across 5 biofluids revealed marked differences in the complexity and reproducibility of the resulting small RNA-seq profiles. The relative efficiency with which each method accessed different exRNA carrier subclasses was determined by estimating the proportions of extracellular vesicle (EV)-, ribonucleoprotein (RNP)-, and high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-specific miRNA signatures in each profile. An interactive web-based application (miRDaR) was developed to help investigators select the optimal exRNA isolation method for their studies. miRDar provides comparative statistics for all expressed miRNAs or a selected subset of miRNAs in the desired biofluid for each exRNA isolation method and returns a ranked list of exRNA isolation methods prioritized by complexity, expression level, and reproducibility. These results will improve reproducibility and stimulate further progress in exRNA biomarker development.