PltDB: a blood platelets-based gene expression database for disease investigation

Area of Science:

• Biomolecular analysis
• Genomics and transcriptomics
• Bioinformatics and computational biology

Background:

• Platelet RNA expression profiling is a promising, minimally invasive method for disease detection, particularly for cancer.
• Existing research lacks a centralized database for platelet RNA expression data, hindering biomarker development.
• Challenges exist in analyzing diverse datasets from various studies on platelet RNA.

Approach:

• Constructed PltDB, a novel database integrating and visualizing RNA expression profiles from platelet samples.
• Included data from RNA-sequencing and microarray analyses of healthy individuals and patients with various diseases.
• Incorporated data for messenger RNAs (mRNAs), long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), circular RNAs (circRNAs), and microRNAs (miRNAs).

Key Points:

• PltDB provides a comprehensive resource for the expression landscape of various RNA types in platelets.
• The database offers tools for data visualization, comparison, correlation analysis, and downloading expression profiles.
• A submission interface allows the scientific community to upload new platelet RNA expression data.

Conclusions:

• PltDB serves as a powerful platform to overcome technical challenges in analyzing diverse platelet RNA studies.
• It aims to facilitate the development of novel blood-based biomarkers for clinical applications.
• The database promotes a comprehensive review of the clinical utility of platelet RNA profiles.