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Droplet Digital PCR for Absolute Quantification of Extracellular MicroRNAs in Plasma and Serum: Quantification of the Cancer Biomarker hsa-miR-141

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Digital PCR

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 1768))

Abstract

Droplet-based digital PCR provides high-precision, absolute quantification of nucleic acid target sequences with wide-ranging applications for both research and clinical diagnostic applications. Droplet-based digital PCR enables absolute quantification by counting nucleic acid molecules encapsulated in discrete, volumetrically defined water-in-oil droplet partitions. The current available systems overcome the previous lack of scalable and practical technologies for digital PCR implementation. Extracellular microRNAs in biofluids (plasma, serum, urine, cerebrospinal fluid, etc.) are promising noninvasive biomarkers in multiple diseases and different clinical settings (e.g., diagnosis, early diagnosis, prediction of recurrence, and prognosis). Here we describe a protocol that enables highly precise and reproducible absolute quantification of extracellular microRNAs using droplet digital PCR.

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Acknowledgements

M.D.G acknowledges initial support from a Rio Hortega Fellowship and later from a Martin Escudero Fellowship. M.T. acknowledges support from the Department of Defense Peer-Reviewed Cancer Research Program Award CA100606 and NIH US National Institutes of Health Transformative R01 grant R01DK085714.

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Correspondence to Muneesh Tewari .

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Giraldez, M.D., Chevillet, J.R., Tewari, M. (2018). Droplet Digital PCR for Absolute Quantification of Extracellular MicroRNAs in Plasma and Serum: Quantification of the Cancer Biomarker hsa-miR-141. In: Karlin-Neumann, G., Bizouarn, F. (eds) Digital PCR. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1768. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-7778-9_26

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-7778-9_26

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-7776-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-7778-9

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