MicroRNA super-resolution imaging in blood for Alzheimer's disease

Abstract

We propose a novel blood biomarker detection method thatuses miRNA super-resolution imaging to enable the early diagnosisof Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Here, we report a singlemoleculedetection method for visualizing disease-specificmiRNA in tissue from an AD mice model, and peripheral bloodmononuclear cells (PBMCs) from AD patients. Using optimizedMagnified Analysis of Proteome (MAPs), we confirmed that fivemiRNAs contribute to neurodegenerative disease in the brainhippocampi of 5XFAD and wild-type mice. We also assessedPBMCs isolated from the whole blood of AD patients and ahealthy control group, and subsequently analyzed those samplesusing miRNA super-resolution imaging. We detected moremiR-200a-3p expression in the cornu ammonis 1 and dentategyrus regions of 3 month-old 5XFAD mice than in wild-typemice. Additionally, miRNA super-resolution imaging of bloodprovides AD diagnosis platform for studying miRNA regulationinside cells at the single molecule level. Our results present apotential liquid biopsy method that could improve the diagnosisof early stage AD and other diseases.