Hydrogel Particle-Based microRNA Profiling for Discovery and Cancer Diagnostics

描述（由申请人提供）：MicroRNA靶点在理解、诊断甚至治疗世界上最流行的疾病（包括癌症、心脏病、阿尔茨海默病、糖尿病等）方面显示出巨大的潜力。不幸的是，由于mirna的小尺寸、序列同源性和广泛的丰度，其量化尤其具有挑战性。因此，使用当今最先进的技术，miRNA分析要么昂贵，要么低通量。为了克服这些限制，将开发一种基于编码水凝胶微粒的新型多路复用技术，用于miRNA分析。初步结果表明，该技术将提供高灵敏度、单核苷酸特异性和快速分析。该项目的第一阶段的具体目标是：(1)开发和评估用于高性能检测的靶标标记方案，(2)在不同的靶标上执行多路miRNA分析，以及(3)在人类来源的样本中展示癌症检测的预测表达分析。这个项目可能会对癌症研究、药物发现和癌症诊断产生影响。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): MicroRNA targets have shown enormous potential for understanding, diagnosing, and even treating the world's most prevalent diseases including cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer's, diabetes and many more. Unfortunately, miRNAs are particularly challenging to quantify due to their small size, sequence homology, and wide range of abundance. As such, miRNA profiling is either expensive or low-throughput using today's state-of-the art technologies. To overcome these limitations, a new multiplexing technology built on encoded hydrogel microparticles will be developed for miRNA profiling. Preliminary results suggest that this technology will provide high sensitivity, single-nucleotide specificity, and rapid analysis. The specific aims for Phase I of this project are to (1) develop and assess target labeling schemes for high-performance detection, (2) perform multiplexed miRNA profiling over a diverse set of targets, and (3) demonstrate predictive expression profiling for cancer detection in human-derived samples. This project could have implications in cancer research, drug discovery, and cancer diagnostics. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The aim of this project is to develop a technology capable of profiling across all human microRNA in a manner that is accurate, rapid, and inexpensive. This tool will be enabling for cancer research, drug discovery, and cancer diagnostics.