Robust MicroRNA Stability in Degraded RNA Preparations from Human Tissue and Cell Samples

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Background: RNA integrity is the essential factor that determines the accuracy of mRNA transcript measurements obtained with quantitative real-time reverse-transcription PCR (RT-qPCR), but evidence is clearly lacking on whether this conclusion also applies to microRNAs (miRNAs). We evaluated this issue by comparative analysis of the dependence of miRNA and mRNA measurements on RNA integrity in renal and prostate samples, under both model and clinical conditions.</jats:p><jats:p>Methods: Samples of total RNA isolated from human renal tissue and Caki-2 cells, as well as from prostate tissue and LNCaP cells, were incubated at 80 °C for 5–240 min. We subsequently determined the RNA integrity number (RIN) and used RT-qPCR to measure various miRNAs (miR-141, miR-155, miR-200c, and miR-210 in renal samples, and miR-96, miR-130b, miR-149, miR-205, and miR-222 in prostate samples). We similarly measured mRNAs encoded by CDH16 (cadherin 16, KSP-cadherin), PPIA [peptidylprolyl isomerase A (cycophilin A)], and TBP (TATA box binding protein) in renal samples, and HIF1A [hypoxia-inducible factor 1, alpha subunit (basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor)], HPRT1 (hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase 1), and KLK3 (kallikrein-related peptidase 3; also known as PSA) in prostate samples. Additionally, we quantified selected miRNAs and mRNAs in samples of RNAs with different RIN values that we isolated from clinical samples. The effect of RIN on the miRNA and mRNA data was assessed by linear regression analysis and group comparison.</jats:p><jats:p>Results: The heat-incubation experiments of cell line and tissue RNAs showed that RIN values had negligible or no effect on miRNA results, whereas all mRNAs gradually decreased with decreasing RIN values. These findings were corroborated by our findings with clinical samples.</jats:p><jats:p>Conclusions: Our results suggest the stability of miRNAs to be generally robust, which makes feasible accurate miRNA measurements with RT-qPCR, even in degraded RNA preparations for which reliable mRNA analyses are commonly inapplicable.</jats:p>