In a number of juvenile liver disorders including autoimmune hepatitis, genetic predisposition was postulated as etiopathogenic (AIH). Archived needle liver biopsies from adults, but seldom paediatric biopsies, were subject to high-performance sequencing (HTPS). Most individuals undergo an initial formalin-fixed paraffin (FFPE) embedded needle liver biopsy, which is finally preserved and can be stored for decades, for definitive diagnosis of AIH. The study intended to develop tissue techniques for the extraction of sufficient RNA from archival needle liver biopsies to provide HTPS data. In the Illumina HiSeq 2000 platform the researchers extracted total RNA from 45 samples of FFPE needle liverbiopsis. For additional analysis, 40 libraries generated high-quality sequences. The number of human readings obtained and the age of the specimen were significantly reversed. More than 90 percent of the readings could be classified as known genes in samples kept for less than 10 years.
For sequence-based questions of etiological origins of complicated liver conditions in young people such as AIH, archived needle liver biopsies are possible.
Reference: https://journals.lww.com/jpgn/Abstract/2021/03000/Development_of_Methods_to_Extract_RNA_From.20.aspx
