Supporting Development of RNA Therapies with Novel Flow-Cytometry Methodologies

Lipid nanoparticle (LNP)-mediated RNA therapies promise novel treatment strategies across therapeutic areas. Design of efficient LNP-mRNA modalities requires detailed understanding of mRNA uptake and transgene expression efficiency in target cells in different organs. Presently, the main approaches for mRNA and protein detection necessitate separate assays and usually requires bulk tissue analysis, precluding cell-specific measurements of transgene delivery and the ability to compare RNA/protein expression kinetics in the same cell types.
Flow-cytometry is a powerful tool for multiplex characterization of cells in dissociated tissues. Recently, flow-cytometry-based PrimeFlow methodology was introduced for cell-specific RNA detection, enabling simultaneous analysis of transgene RNA/protein in multiple cell populations.
We propose discussing the topic of applying PrimeFlow as a platform to evaluate mRNA-LNP delivery in vivo. This presentation will contain an overview of the PrimeFlow methodology, the method adaptations required for pre-clinical sample analysis, and case-studies illustrating potential advantages and limitations of PrimeFlow.