Quantification of circulating cell free mitochondrial dna in extracellular vesicles with picogreen™ in liquid biopsies: Fast assessment of disease/trauma severity

Michela Marcatti, Jamal Saada, Ikenna Okereke, Charles E. Wade, Stefan H. Bossmann, Massoud Motamedi, Bartosz Szczesny

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

The analysis of circulating cell free DNA (ccf‐DNA) is an emerging diagnostic tool for the detection and monitoring of tissue injury, disease progression, and potential treatment effects. Cur-rently, most of ccf‐DNA in tissue and liquid biopsies is analysed with real‐time quantitative PCR (qPCR) that is primer‐ and template‐specific, labour intensive and cost‐inefficient. In this report we directly compare the amounts of ccf‐DNA in serum of healthy volunteers, and subjects presenting with various stages of lung adenocarcinoma, and survivors of traumatic brain injury using qPCR and quantitative PicoGreen™ fluorescence assay. A significant increase of ccf‐DNA in lung adeno-carcinoma and traumatic brain injury patients, in comparison to the group of healthy human sub-jects, was found using both analytical methods. However, the direct correlation between PicoGreen™ fluorescence and qPCR was found only when mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA)‐specific primers were used. Further analysis of the location of ccf‐DNA indicated that the majority of DNA is located within lumen of extracellular vesicles (EVs) and is easily detected with mtDNA‐specific primers. We have concluded that due to the presence of active DNases in the blood, the analysis of DNA within EVs has the potential of providing rapid diagnostic outcomes. Moreover, we speculate that accurate and rapid quantification of ccf‐DNA with PicoGreen™ fluorescent probe used as a point of care approach could facilitate immediate assessment and treatment of critically ill patients.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number819
JournalCells
Volume10
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2021

Keywords

  • Circulating cell free DNA
  • Extracellular vecis-cles
  • PicoGreen™ staining
  • Trauma severity
  • Traumatic brain injury

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

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