Characterization of RNA
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Gene expression profiling of mRNA in the brain and the peripheral blood, is increasingly important to validate diagnostic
and prognostic signatures of disease and prediction of outcome, as well as support pharmacogenomic approaches to novel treatment
strategies. Variation of gene expression is an integral mechanism underlying susceptibility to complex disease and is directly
modified by polymorphisms in regulatory elements. Thus, the study of gene expression profiles that correlate with DNA variants
is a powerful and complementary approach to the detection of novel risk loci. In this chapter, we discuss current methods
for mRNA isolation and purification from the peripheral blood and the brain. We also describe accepted and novel methods for
mRNA characterization (e.g., Microarrays, RNA sequencing, Northern blots, and RT-PCR) with applicability to human disease.