Tens of thousands of small non-coding RNAs are transcribed from the human genome. Although they are not translated to proteins, these molecules are integral contributors to physiological and pathological processes. Among the best-studied small non-coding RNAs are microRNAs (miRNAs). These are important posttranscriptional regulators that are evolutionary very well conserved: The 20–25-nt long molecules bind to complementary regions on target mRNAs, which leads to mRNA degradation or translational repression.

The institute’s Regensburg-based Division of Personalized Tumor Therapy has published novel data on miRNA sequencing of single cells in a study. In a systemic approach the team around Dr. Sarah Hücker and Dr. Stefan Kirsch carefully compared different methods for single-cell small RNA sequencing and applied the optimal protocol to sequence single cells from distinct cell lines as well as circulating tumor cells derived from small-cell lung cancer patients. In addition, to the valuable comparison of performance and quality of the different sequencing protocols, their data could also show the feasibility of single-cell miRNA profiles as potential biomarkers.

Read the publication in Nature Communications “Single-cell microRNA sequencing method comparison and application to cell lines and circulating lung tumor cells”