The NIH Extracellular RNA Communication Consortium

Alexandra M Ainsztein; Philip J Brooks; Vivien G Dugan; Aniruddha Ganguly; Max Guo; T Kevin Howcroft; Christine A Kelley; Lillian S Kuo; Patricia A Labosky; Rebecca Lenzi; George A McKie; Suresh Mohla; Dena Procaccini; Matthew Reilly; John S Satterlee; Pothur R Srinivas; Elizabeth Stansell Church; Margaret Sutherland; Danilo A Tagle; Jessica M Tucker; Sundar Venkatachalam

doi:10.3402/jev.v4.27493

The NIH Extracellular RNA Communication Consortium

J Extracell Vesicles. 2015 Aug 28:4:27493. doi: 10.3402/jev.v4.27493. eCollection 2015.

Authors

Alexandra M Ainsztein¹, Philip J Brooks², Vivien G Dugan³, Aniruddha Ganguly⁴, Max Guo⁵, T Kevin Howcroft⁶, Christine A Kelley⁷, Lillian S Kuo⁸, Patricia A Labosky⁹, Rebecca Lenzi⁹, George A McKie¹⁰, Suresh Mohla¹¹, Dena Procaccini¹², Matthew Reilly¹³, John S Satterlee¹², Pothur R Srinivas¹⁴, Elizabeth Stansell Church¹⁵, Margaret Sutherland¹⁶, Danilo A Tagle⁸, Jessica M Tucker¹⁷, Sundar Venkatachalam¹⁸

Affiliations

¹ Division of Cell Biology and Biophysics, National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), Bethesda, MD, USA.
² Division of Clinical Innovation, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), Bethesda, MD, USA.
³ Office of Genomics and Advanced Technologies, Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Rockville, MD, USA.
⁴ Cancer Diagnosis Program, Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis, National Cancer Institute (NCI), Rockville, MD, USA.
⁵ Genetics and Cell Biology Branch, Division of Aging Biology, National Institute on Aging (NIA), Bethesda, MD, USA.
⁶ Division of Cancer Biology, Cancer Immunology, Hematology, and Etiology Branch, National Cancer Institute (NCI), Rockville, MD, USA; howcrofk@mail.nih.gov.
⁷ Division of Discovery Science and Technology, National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), Bethesda, MD, USA.
⁸ National Center for Advancing Translational Science (NCATS), Bethesda, MD, USA.
⁹ Office of Strategic Coordination, Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives (DPCPSI), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD, USA.
¹⁰ Ocular Infection, Inflammation, and Immunology, National Eye Institute (NEI), Rockville, MD, USA.
¹¹ Division of Cancer Biology, Tumor Biology and Metastasis Branch (TBMB), National Cancer Institute (NCI), Rockville, MD, USA.
¹² National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Rockville, MD, USA.
¹³ Division of Neuroscience & Behavior, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), Rockville, MD, USA.
¹⁴ Division of Cardiovascular Sciences, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), Bethesda, MD, USA.
¹⁵ Pathogenesis and Basic Research Branch, Division of AIDS, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Rockville, MD, USA.
¹⁶ Neurodegeneration Cluster, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), Rockville, MD, USA.
¹⁷ National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), Bethesda, MD, USA.
¹⁸ Integrative Biology and Infectious Diseases Branch, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), Bethesda, MD, USA.

Abstract

The Extracellular RNA (exRNA) Communication Consortium, funded as an initiative of the NIH Common Fund, represents a consortium of investigators assembled to address the critical issues in the exRNA research arena. The overarching goal is to generate a multi-component community resource for sharing fundamental scientific discoveries, protocols, and innovative tools and technologies. The key initiatives include (a) generating a reference catalogue of exRNAs present in body fluids of normal healthy individuals that would facilitate disease diagnosis and therapies, (b) defining the fundamental principles of exRNA biogenesis, distribution, uptake, and function, as well as development of molecular tools, technologies, and imaging modalities to enable these studies,

Keywords: ERCC; exRNA; extracellular RNA.

(c) identifying exRNA biomarkers of disease, (d) demonstrating clinical utility of exRNAs as therapeutic agents and developing scalable technologies required for these studies, and (e) developing a community resource, the exRNA Atlas, to provide the scientific community access to exRNA data, standardized exRNA protocols, and other useful tools and technologies generated by funded investigators.