Saliva RNA Preservation - Complete deactivation/inhibition of saliva RNAses? (Aug/05/2005 )

I am working on a study with saliva and its RNA components.

Right now, it is impossible to stop RNA degradation in the oral cavity, but as soon as a saliva donor spits into a cup/test tube, I want to be able to stop all RNA degradation.

Right now, I'm using RNAlater from Ambion, but it seems as if the product does not stop all RNAses. Freezing the samples down to 4*C seems to greatly slow down the destruction of the RNA transcripts, but, it is not a viable solution because thousands of these saliva samples have to be shipped internationally.

Another possible research project could be somehow identifying specifically which RNAses (or families of) are not inactivated by RNAlater so that addition reagents/other methods could be devised to completely halt RNA degradation...

Does anyone have suggestions on other products similar to RNAlater, or have any ideas of how to start the project I mentioned? I'm looking for viable solutions, and after weeks of searching, I have not yet found any...

Thanks.

Hi there,
you should contact A comapny called DNAtech or something. They have a product which is called ORagene (i'm sure of this name). Its almost the thing you are looking for but then for DNA, they might have something in their R & D for RNA also.
the principle for the DNA is that the patient spits into a container,upto 4ml. Then screws on the lid til there is a click, which then releases a stabilizing fluid for the DNA. The DNA can then be shipped a room temperature and is stable for about 3 days. For the isolation you can use their reagent or any other methode you have optimized.
Good luck with the search, if you find anything let me know too.