(u19) rfa-rm-12-012
Projects
There is a desperate need for new means to diagnose and treat most human diseases. Extracellular small RNAs provide great promise. In particular, recent findings provide strong evidence for their utility as biomarkers. More
Our broad term objective is two-fold: to understand how extracellular RNA (exRNA) modulates the phenotype of normal cells in the tumor environment and to generate new experimental modalities that can elucidate mechanisms underlying this form of communication among cells. More
A major premise of this proposal is that RNAs present in biofluids represent a window into various cellular processes that exist in multiple tissues that release such RNAs. More
Accumulating evidence indicates that some of the many RNAs identified in body fluids and cell culture medium may be functional. Although proof-of-principle and validation projects have demonstrated cell-to-cell RNA transfer, not a single mammalian extracellular RNA has been demonstrated to enter and function in a target cell, at least in a biologically relevant and robust manner. More
Extracellular RNA (exRNA) from pathogens plays a key role as activator of innate immunity in mammals. However, the presence of host exRNA in serum and other body fluids challenges the current models of RNA based immune recognition. More