Small RNA Sequencing of MEC-1 derived extracellular vesicles (EV) and cells

Extracellular vesicles (EV) are small, membrane enclosed particles, which vary in size between 30nm to 1000nm and are able to transfer RNAs and proteins from the cell of origin to recipient cells. Thus, EVs represent an important means of cellular communication under physiological as well as pathological conditions. In chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), the most common leukemia among adults in the Western world, cancer cell-derived EVs might be associated with the induction of a tumor-supportive microenvironment. In order to characterize CLL-derived EVs, we isolated EVs from cell culture supernatant of MEC-1 cells, a CLL cell line, and performed small RNA sequencing of MEC-1 EVs and respective parental cells using the Illumina platform.