Nasopharyngeal Cancer Development
miRCURY LNA™ microRNA Power Labeling Kit 
Dr. Xin Li
Dr. Xin Li has just completed a three-year fellowship at the NIH and is planning to begin work at the Cancer Research Institute of Southern Medical University in Guangzhou, China.
1. What is your research area?
We are studying the molecular mechanisms of nasopharyngeal carcinoma, a cancer that occurs with high frequency in people from South Asia, especially South China. Our focus is on the role of specific candidate genes and important susceptibility genes in pathogenesis.
Our studies have included functional analysis of candidate genes, animal models, and cancer stem cell research. Together with the Immunogenetics Section at the NIH, we have looked at microRNA expression and cDNA gene expression in cancer immunological therapy.
2. What has been your experience in microRNA profiling?
At the NIH, we labeled microRNAs in tRNA samples and then hybridized them to custom printed microRNA arrays.
3. What is your experience using the miRCURY LNA™ Power Labeling Kit from Exiqon?
I have used Exiqon's Power Labeling Kit and compared it with the products from other companies such as Ambion. Exiqon’s product is impressive. The procedures are easy to understand and very fast. We were especially satisfied with the low amount of starting total RNA needed. We got beautiful results every time.
4. In your opinion what are the primary advantages of using miRCURY LNA™ Power Labeling Kit compared to other types of microRNA labeling kits?
The nasopharyngeal carcinoma samples we use are usually limited. The small starting amount required for Exiqon’s kit was a critical factor to us. Furthermore, the Power Labeling Kit is very fast, thus our samples are labeled and ready for hybridization in just half a day.
5. How did you validate the results from the microRNA arrays?
So far, we have used our own real-time qPCR in tissue and
in situ hybridization in cell-culture, which takes a bit of time to optimize. We hope to use the miRCURY LNA™
in situ probes and real-time PCR kit in the future.
6. What are your future plans for microRNA research?
Soon I will return to China and finish the microRNA expression profile analysis in nasopharyngeal carcinoma, which has not yet to be reported so far . Then we hope to study the metastasis of this disease and cancer stem cells.