PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Eva Hulstaert
AU  - Annelien Morlion
AU  - Francisco Avila Cobos
AU  - Kimberly Verniers
AU  - Justine Nuytens
AU  - Eveline Vanden Eynde
AU  - Nurten Yigit
AU  - Jasper Anckaert
AU  - Anja Geerts
AU  - Pieter Hindryckx
AU  - Peggy Jacques
AU  - Guy Brusselle
AU  - Ken R. Bracke
AU  - Tania Maes
AU  - Thomas Malfait
AU  - Thierry Derveaux
AU  - Virginie Ninclaus
AU  - Caroline Van Cauwenbergh
AU  - Kristien Roelens
AU  - Ellen Roets
AU  - Dimitri Hemelsoet
AU  - Kelly Tilleman
AU  - Lieve Brochez
AU  - Scott Kuersten
AU  - Lukas Simon
AU  - Sebastian Karg
AU  - Alexandra Kautzky-Willers
AU  - Michael Leutner
AU  - Christa Nöhammer
AU  - Ondrej Slaby
AU  - Gary P. Schroth
AU  - Jo Vandesompele
AU  - Pieter Mestdagh
TI  - Charting extracellular transcriptomes in The Human Biofluid RNA Atlas
AID  - 10.1101/823369
DP  - 2019 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 823369
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/11/05/823369.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/11/05/823369.full
AB  - Extracellular RNAs present in biofluids have emerged as potential biomarkers for disease. Where most studies focus on plasma or serum, other biofluids may contain more informative RNA molecules, depending on the type of disease. Here, we present an unprecedented atlas of messenger, circular and small RNA transcriptomes of a comprehensive collection of 20 different human biofluids. By means of synthetic spike-in controls, we compared RNA content across biofluids, revealing a more than 10 000-fold difference in RNA concentration. The circular RNA fraction is increased in nearly all biofluids compared to tissues. Each biofluid transcriptome is enriched for RNA molecules derived from specific tissues and cell types. In addition, a subset of biofluids, including stool, sweat, saliva and sputum, contains high levels of bacterial RNAs. Our atlas enables a more informed selection of the most relevant biofluid to monitor particular diseases. To verify the biomarker potential in these biofluids, four validation cohorts representing a broad spectrum of diseases were profiled, revealing numerous differential RNAs between case and control subjects. Taken together, our results reveal novel insights in the RNA content of human biofluids and may serve as a valuable resource for future biomarker studies.