Neural-Derived Blood-Based Exosomal miRNA Transcriptome to Identify Suicidality

Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the US. Thus, there is desperate need for identifying risk factors and for non-invasive, reliable biomarkers that can be used for early detection of suicidality. Recently, microRNAs (miRNAs) have emerged as an important class of small non-coding RNAs have the unique ability to influence physiological and disease phenotypes. Using a neural specific surface marker, we isolated exosomes from blood plasma and found that these exosomes are enriched with miRNAs that are expressed in brain. Using this novel approach, we examined whether neural-derived exosomal miRNAs can distinguished suicidality among depressed patients.