Detection of the tRNA-derived fragments in human pancreatic islets of control individuals
Cytosolic and mitochondrial fragments that arise from the cleavage of tRNAs and mt-tRNAs, respectively, have been identified as potential novel regulators of cellular functions. In this study we identified hundreds of fragments in the pancreatic islets of healthy human individuals. We were able to annotate 3593 tRFs (16-55 base pairs) present in the islets of healthy human individuals (we considered a minimum of 5 cpm values in each of the 3 samples). Interestingly, the vast majority of the tRFs whose levels are altered in pancreatic islets of prediabetic NOD mice and in extracellular vesicles released by activated CD4+ T lymphocytes, are conserved in humans and were detected in human pancreatic islets. This suggests a possible conservation of the findings of this study in a human context. Overall design: In order to characterize the expression profile of tRFs (tRNA-derived fragments) in  human islets, we isolated total RNA from pancreatic islets of control healthy individuals.