Highly Efficient MicroRNA and Total RNA Purification from Formalin-Fixed Paraffin-Embedded Tissues (FFPE)

Extracting miRNA and total RNA from highly degraded archival formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue (FFPE) can be challenging due to combinations of fixation conditions, age, temperature, storage, etc. This application note describes how the Agencourt SPRI magnetic bead based method is superior to the column purification method for purifying miRNA FFPE samples. The results show that the SPRI extraction method provides 5 times higher miRNA yield than a column purification method.