# Cell types of origin of the cell-free transcriptome

Source: https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-vorperian-cell-types-cell-free-transcriptome-nat-biotechnol-2022/  
OnCo record `paper-vorperian-cell-types-cell-free-transcriptome-nat-biotechnol-2022` (Key paper). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

A study that worked out which cell types the RNA in healthy people's blood comes from, finding most from platelets, red cell precursors and white cells.

## Summary

Deconvolution of plasma cell-free RNA against a single-cell atlas found that platelets, erythrocyte and erythroid progenitors and leukocytes comprised the majority of observed signal. The authors note that the method assigns a reduced contribution to cell types that express genes at lower levels or are smaller.

## Fields

- Kind: Key paper
- Last checked: 2026-11-04
- Journal: Nature Biotechnology
- Year: 2022
- DOI: 10.1038/s41587-021-01188-9
- Authors: Vorperian SK, Moufarrej MN, Tabula Sapiens Consortium, Quake SR
- Findings: Platelets, erythroid cells and leukocytes dominate plasma RNA (full text).
- What it means: Any tumour RNA in blood is read against a large background from blood cells.
- Caveats: Healthy plasma; no tumour fraction.

## Sources

- Vorperian et al., Nat Biotechnol 2022: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-021-01188-9
- PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35132263/

## Connected records

- fronts: [Diagnostics & Biomarkers](https://onco.cc/fronts/diagnostics/)
- technologies: [Liquid RNA biopsy (cell-free, vesicle and platelet RNA)](https://onco.cc/technologies/liquid-rna-biopsy/), [Single-cell & spatial profiling](https://onco.cc/technologies/single-cell-spatial/)
- terms: [Biomarker](https://onco.cc/terms/biomarker/)

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