Analytical Sciences

A Comparative Fluorescent Beacon-based Method for Serum microRNA Quantification

Madhu BETA,*1,*4 Subramanian KRISHNAKUMAR,*1 Sailaja V ELCHURI,*3 Bindu SALIM,*2 and Janakiraman NARAYANAN*3

*1 L & T Ocular Pathology Department, Kamalnayan Bajaj Institute for Research in Vision and Opthalmology, Vision Research Foundation. No 18/41, College Road, Chennai 600006, Tamil Nadu, India
*2 Department of Electronics and Communication, PSG Institute of Advanced Studies, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India
*3 Nanobiotechnology Department, Kamalnayan Bajaj Institute for Research in Vision and Opthalmology, Vision Research Foundation, No 18/41, College Road, Chennai 600006, Tamil Nadu, India
*4 CeNTAB, SASTRA (Shanmugha Arts, Science, Technology & Research Academy) University, Tanjore, India

Circulating serum microRNAs (miRNAs) are promising biomarkers for disease diagnosis. The quantification of the serum miRNA copy number is a challenge due to the presence of low levels in the serum. Here, we report on a direct measurement of the miRNA copy number from human serum using a locked nucleic acid (LNA) modified beacon probe with a single step using fluorescence spectroscopy and microscopy. We had used a minimum volume of 0.1 μL healthy human serum and retinoblastoma serum to show the biological variation of the miRNA copy number.

J-STAGE: View this article in J-STAGE