Journal
JOURNAL OF EXTRACELLULAR VESICLES
Volume 6, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
DOI: 10.1080/20013078.2016.1272832
Keywords
RNA; extracellular vesicles; exosomes; microvesicles; ultracentrifugation; serum; cell culture; microRNA; contamination; artefact
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Funding
- US National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health [R01 DA040385]
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In a recently published study, Anna Krichevsky and colleagues raise the important question of whether results of in vitro extracellular RNA (exRNA) studies, including extracellular vesicle (EV) investigations, are confounded by the presence of RNA in cell culture medium components such as foetal bovine serum (FBS). The answer, according to their data, is a resounding yes. Even after lengthy ultracentrifugation to remove bovine EVs from FBS, the majority of exRNA in FBS remained. Although technical factors may affect the degree of depletion, residual EVs and exRNA in FBS could influence the conclusions of in vitro studies: certainly, for secreted RNA, and possibly also for cell-associated RNA. In this commentary, we critically examine some of the literature in this field, including a recent study from some of the authors of this piece, in light of the Wei et al. study and explore how cell culture-derived RNAs may affect what we think we know about EV RNAs. These findings hold particular consequence as the field moves towards a deeper understanding of EV-RNA associations and potential functions.
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