The NIH Common Fund is pleased to announce a new publication highlighting outcomes of the groundbreaking Extracellular RNA Communication program. Once thought to exist only within cells, RNA is now known to be exported from cells as extracellular RNA (exRNA), to play a role in cell-to-cell communication, and can be used as a diagnostic tool. The review emphasizes key exRNA advances and discusses evolution of the field over the last 10 years, exploring how NIH funding in this program has made an impact on exRNA biology.
The NIH Common Fund's Extracellular RNA Communication program was established in 2012 to unlock mysteries of exRNA, including how exRNA is made and functions, and how it communicates within the body to uncover its roles in human health and disease. As the program ends, this comprehensive review illustrates how the program’s discoveries and innovations are being translated into the commercial market and the clinic, demonstrating the program’s impact on improving people’s health and catalyzing research in multiple disciplines.
The Common Fund program brought together researchers to form a consortium resulting in more than 800 publications that have been cited over 79,000 times. The consortium identified potential exRNA markers for early disease detection and monitoring of nearly 30 diseases and conditions, including neurological disorders, cardiovascular disease, pregnancy complications, glaucoma, diabetes, and multiple types of cancer.
The consortium also discovered distinct carriers of exRNA and found that each carrier type contains different cargo, improving what we know about how exRNA is packaged and moved. These findings have led to the development of potential clinical therapies, including using these carriers to deliver treatments directly to intended targets, like cancer cells, in the body. Because exRNA carriers and viruses have similar properties, tools to study exRNA carriers were also repurposed as potential COVID-19 diagnostic tests in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The review adds valuable insight to the growing body of literature on exRNA and its applications in clinical practice, offering an important perspective on the state of the field and the challenges and opportunities ahead. It also describes how the program has contributed knowledge and resources to the field of exRNA biology, accelerating progress toward future clinical applications.
Reference: Amolegbe SM, Johnston NC, Ambrosi A, Ganguly A, Howcroft TK, Kuo LS, Labosky PA, Rudnicki DD, Satterlee JS, Tagle DA, Happel C. Extracellular RNA communication: A decade of NIH common fund support illuminates exRNA biology. J Extracell Vesicles. 2025 Jan;14(1):e70016. doi: 10.1002/jev2.70016. PMID: 39815775.
