Blood platelets contain tumor-derived RNA biomarkers

R. Jonas A. Nilsson, Leonora Balaj, Esther Hulleman, Sjoerd van Rijn, D. Michiel Pegtel, Maudy Walraven, Anders Widmark, Winald R. Gerritsen, Henk M. Verheul, W. Peter Vandertop, David P. Noske, Johan Skog, Thomas Würdinger

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

289 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Diagnostic platforms providing biomarkers that are highly predictive for diagnosing, monitoring, and stratifying cancer patients are key instruments in the development of personalized medicine. We demonstrate that tumor cells transfer (mutant) RNA into blood platelets in vitro and in vivo, and show that blood platelets isolated from glioma and prostate cancer patients contain the cancer-associated RNA biomarkers EGFRvIII and PCA3, respectively. In addition, gene-expression profiling revealed a distinct RNA signature in platelets from glioma patients compared with normal control subjects. Because platelets are easily accessible and isolated, they may form an attractive platform for the companion diagnostics of cancer
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3680-3683
JournalBlood
Volume118
Issue number13
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2011

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