Analysis of circulating non-coding RNAs in a non-invasive and cost-effective manner

Abstract Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) participate in regulation of gene expression, and are highly relevant to pathological development. They are found to be stably present in diverse body fluids, including those in the circulatory system, which can be sampled non-invasively for clinical tests. Thus, circulating ncRNAs have great potential to be disease biomarkers. However, tremendous efforts are desired to discover and utilize ncRNAs as biomarkers in clinical diagnosis, calling for technological advancement in analysis of circulating ncRNAs in biospecimens. Hence, this review summarizes the recent developments in this area, highlighting the works devoted to cancer diagnosis and prognosis. Three main directions are focused: 1) Extraction and purification of ncRNAs from body fluids; 2) Quantification of the purified circulating ncRNAs; and 3) Microfluidic platforms for integration of both steps to enable point-of-care diagnostics. These technologies have laid a solid foundation to move forward the applications of circulating ncRNAs in disease diagnosis and cure.