Development of a Fast miRNA Extraction System for Tumor Analysis Based on a Simple Lab on Chip Approach

MiRNAs are small (20 to 23 nucleotides in length) noncoding RNAs regulating numerous essential cell functions. They operate by targeting messenger RNAs for cleavage or translational repression, influencing cell development and cell differentiation. MiRNAs are identified to play an important role in human cancers. In gene expression studies for tumor diagnostics, an extraction system with high extraction efficiency from low sample amounts is mandatory for any biomarker identification. A fast on chip RNA extraction module formerly used in pathogen detection was modified for the extraction of miRNAs from human cell cultures. This fast method (∼8 min) yields purified and amplifiable miRNAs for subsequent expression analysis. Compared to commercial extraction kits, the on chip miRNA extraction system shows 100fold higher extraction efficiencies for cell cultures.