Analysis of Circulating MicroRNA: Preanalytical and Analytical Challenges

There is great interest in circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) as disease biomarkers. Translating promising miRNAs into validated clinical tests requires the characterization of many preanalytical and analytical parameters.

miRNAs were extracted from serum and plasma samples of healthy volunteers, and miRNAs known to be present in serum and plasma (miR-15b, miR-16, miR-24, and miR-122) were amplified by reverse-transcription quantitative PCR. Stability and the effects of hemolysis were determined. Assay variation and its components, including the effect of adding control miRNA, were assessed by nested ANOVA.