Chapter 381 - 252: miRNA Early Screening Press Conference (2)

Chapter 381: Chapter 252: miRNA Early Screening Press Conference (2)

Not kicking him while he was down was the greatest kindness they could show. Did he really expect them to help him launch a counterattack?

’What are you thinking, Old Deng?’

In fact, those same people were clapping the loudest...

After the applause died down, Jiang He said:

"Good morning, everyone."

"A few days ago, in Turner Hall, we discussed the early prediction of severe acute pancreatitis (SAP)."

"But today, I want to talk about pancreatic cancer. It’s known as the king of cancers. It’s typically discovered only in its late stages, and its five-year survival rate hovers in the single digits."

"The medical community has been relentlessly searching for it. We’ve tried to detect it early using ultrasounds, CT scans, and even the tumor marker CA19-9. However, these methods have proven to either lack sufficient resolution or have extremely poor specificity. By the time we see a space-occupying lesion on an imaging scan, the cancer cells have often already metastasized."

"This is a challenge faced by the entire global medical community."

The foreign scholars in the audience nodded slightly.

Jiang He clicked his presentation remote.

A set of molecular structure diagrams appeared on the screen.

"Since we can’t find it on the macroscopic, organ level, we can only explore on the microscopic level. My team has focused its attention on microRNA (miRNA), a type of non-coding single-stranded RNA molecule that is only 19 to 25 nucleotides long."

"They don’t participate in protein coding, but they play a key role in cell proliferation and differentiation. More importantly, when pancreatic tissue begins to show very early cancerous tendencies, these miRNAs are released into the peripheral blood via exosomes."

Hearing this, the scholars in the audience grew even more curious.

Using peripheral blood miRNA as a tumor marker was a concept many labs were already experimenting with.

But the biggest problems were:

The concentration was too low, and there was too much noise.

Extracting stable and specific miRNA from a few milliliters of blood was extremely difficult.

So many top laboratories around the world were researching this, but so far, no one had produced any substantial results.

’Is Jiang He’s team really that good?’

Amidst the crowd’s suspicion and curiosity, Jiang He moved into the academic demonstration phase of his presentation.

He said:

"During our experiments, we encountered several problems, such as the extraction purity of low-abundance samples and the stability of downstream amplification."

"To solve this problem, our team improved upon the Trizol extraction method. After lysis, we abandoned single-phase extraction and introduced a ’double chloroform extraction method,’ sacrificing some of the sample volume to avoid the intermediate protein layer."

"Then, in the precipitation stage, we added 5mg/ml of glycogen as a co-precipitant."

As Jiang He continued his explanation, a screenshot of a test report from a NanoDrop spectrophotometer appeared on the big screen.

This was real data that Professor Wang Xiaoqing and her team had run in the Southern Medical University labs.

"Please look at the screen. The RNA extracted with this process has an A260/280 ratio that is stable between 1.9 and 2.0, and the A260/230 ratio is consistently greater than 2.0."

The atmosphere in the audience changed quickly.

Suspicion and curiosity turned into astonishment.

Because the results Jiang He presented were absolutely incredible.

Normally, you could only get results this pure from high-concentration cell lines.

If this data came from peripheral blood serum, it would be absolutely astounding.

’How could it be so pure? Is that even scientifically possible?’

A few professors exchanged glances, unable to stop the suspicion from creeping into their minds: Had Jiang He fabricated his data too?

But that seemed impossible. Just two days ago, Jiang He had been the one to expose Miller for fabricating data. Now, with all eyes on him, he couldn’t possibly hold a press conference and use fake data to bluff everyone, could he?

’That would be even more insane!’

’So these results are real? The method is really that effective?’

Several professors had already made up their minds. They had to replicate this experiment when they got back.

To see if it was really that incredible.

Qian Yongjian silently thought through Jiang He’s protocol. In his heart, he was also a bit unsure, as this wasn’t his field of expertise, after all.

Jiang He cleverly paused here, giving everyone a moment to process.

Once he saw everyone had more or less absorbed the information, he continued:

"To ensure specificity, we designed our own specific stem-loop primers for the target miRNA. This structure allows for the precise identification of mature, short-sequence miRNA during the reverse transcription process, thereby eliminating interference from trace amounts of genomic DNA and other long-chain RNA."

The screen changed.

Dozens of PCR amplification curve graphs appeared.

Jiang He never made empty claims; he let the data speak for itself. He continued:

"This is the baseline data we established, based on serum from 300 healthy individuals and 150 patients with confirmed pancreatic cancer."

Jiang He went on to explain this point in detail.

The experts below nodded in agreement as they listened.

Regardless of the final results, this baseline data was established to a very high standard.

At least from a professional, procedural standpoint, there were no problems to be found so far.

This further increased the credibility of Jiang He and his team.

Jiang He continued to the next slide.

This was the most important slide.

Next to the chart was the authorization logo of Charite Medical School, Berlin.

Professor Weber blinked, extremely curious.

’Finally, the main event.’

He was also eager to know what kind of results Jiang He had actually achieved.

In truth, by this point in the press conference, Professor Weber already knew what Jiang He was going to say next.

If he wasn’t mistaken, Jiang He must have developed an early screening method for pancreatic cancer.

But deep down, Professor Weber found it hard to believe.

’Good heavens, this is just too incredible.’

If he had really done it, this was an achievement on the level of a Nobel Prize.

’A Nobel Prize at 21?’

’In mathematics, it might be plausible... but in medicine? That would be absolutely unheard of!’

Jiang He looked out at the audience, feeling a wave of emotion himself.

This was the greatest achievement he had made since his rebirth.

And now, it was finally time for his efforts to bear fruit.

’Looking back on this journey, I’ve gotten this far on my own effort... uh, no Deep Blue involved. It really was all my own effort...’

Jiang He took a deep breath, then said softly:

"Everyone, in our laboratory in China Yangcheng, my team received 50 special serum samples from Charite Medical School, Germany."

"The donors of these 50 samples had completely normal physical indicators at the time of the blood draw. They felt no discomfort, and their imaging scans showed no abnormalities."

"But within two to three years after their blood was drawn, all 50 of these individuals were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer."

"We input these 50 extremely early-stage samples into the miRNA-targeted early screening model that we built."

"Now, please see the results."

An animation appeared on the screen.

Fifty parallel coordinate axes.

As the Ct value (cycle threshold) advanced.

Between the 32nd and 35th cycles, a dense cluster of logarithmic amplification curves suddenly erupted!

The melting curve—a perfect single peak!

This animation meant one thing:

Characteristic miRNA was present in the blood of 50 people who had appeared completely healthy!

Which meant pancreatic cancer could be diagnosed ahead of time!

The entire Turner Centennial Hall fell instantly silent.

Even if the audience had guessed what was coming, the impact of seeing the animation laid out before them was something else entirely.

Professor Weber was speechless.

Professor Pierre stared without blinking, muttering something under his breath.

From curiosity, to surprise, and now to utter shock.

The foreign scholars finally realized they were witnessing the birth of a technology that could rewrite medical history!

No one knew how long it had been.

In the front row.

Qian Yongjian was the first to applaud.

Applause is infectious.

Soon, all the invited scholars and reporters began to applaud at the same time!

Thunderous applause echoed through Turner Centennial Hall, long and unabated.

Jiang He waited for the applause to subside slightly before delivering his final conclusion:

"This miRNA early screening system has proven its reliability."

"I can announce with confidence."

"This technology, developed by my team and I, can advance the detection of pancreatic cancer by two to three years!"