Expression profiles of tRNA-derived small RNAs and their potential roles in primary nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Transfer-RNA-Derived Small RNA (tsRNA) is a novel class of short non-coding RNA including stress-induced tRNA fragments (tiRNA) and tRNA-derived fragments (tRF). Using RNA sequencing, we evaluated the tsRNA expression profiles in the fresh nasopharyngeal carcinoma tissue specimens (n = 4) and mucosal tissue specimens (n = 4) in patients’ primary nasopharyngeal carcinoma (P-NPC) and nasopharyngitis. Bioinformatics analyses indicated that tsRNAs were the important regulators and potential new biomarkers of P-NPC. tiRNA and tRF profiles in the tissue specimens of primary nasopharyngeal carcinoma (P-NPC) and nasopharyngitis patients, in triplicate, using Illumina NextSeq 500 system.