Research advances in the detection of miRNA

Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a family of endogenous, small (approximately 22 nucleotides in length), noncoding, functional RNAs. With the development of molecular biology, the research of miRNA biological function has attracted significant interest, as abnormal miRNA expression is identified to contribute to serious human diseases such as cancers. Traditional methods for miRNA detection do not meet current demands. In particular, nanomaterial-based methods, nucleic acid amplification-based methods such as rolling circle amplification (RCA), loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), strand-displacement amplification (SDA) and some enzyme-free amplifications have been employed widely for the highly sensitive detection of miRNA. MiRNA functional research and clinical diagnostics have been accelerated by these new techniques. Herein, we summarize and discuss the recent progress in the development of miRNA detection methods and new applications. This review will provide guidelines for the development of follow-up miRNA detection methods with high sensitivity and specificity, and applicability to disease diagnosis and therapy.

Circ_0000527 promotes the progression of retinoblastoma by regulating miR-646/LRP6 axis

“…MicroRNAs (miRNAs), small non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) embraceing 19-25 nucleotides, inhibit gene expression by binding to the 3′ untranslated region (3′-UTR) of the target mRNA [9]. Increasing experiments find that miRNAs participate in many aspects of cancer biology, such as cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis and metastasis [10]. For instance, in renal clear cell carcinoma, miR-205-5p suppresses VEGFA expression and the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway to function as a tumor suppressor [11]; miR-204-5p represses the proliferation and invasion of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma cells by suppressing IL-11 [12].…”

Loop Mediated Isothermal Amplification: Principles and Applications in Plant Virology

“…Since this first report, the application of LAMP has been increasingly used and adopted as an alternative method to those based on PCR. LAMP, in fact, is continuously being implemented in the medicine, agriculture, and food industries, with approaches that include the screening of viral and bacterial strain mutations, analysis of fungicide resistant mutations, analysis of micro RNAs, herbal medicine identification, plant pathogen vectors identification, single nucleotide polymorphisms analysis, and detection of genetically modified organisms [16][17][18][19][20]. The reasons for the development of the LAMP methodology were founded on the attempt to overcome some drawbacks of the conventional PCR, a method that requires the acquisition of a high-cost equipment known as thermal cycler.…”

MicroRNAs: New Biomarkers for the progression of Coronary Artery Diseases

“…Currently, several alternative methods such as real-time PCR, microarray technology are also adopted for miRNA detection, but these techniques are so complex that they usually require professional laboratory skills. Besides, false positives may frequently be generated during the amplification process [70] . Although various detection methods such as qRT-PCR, northern blot as well as microarray are commonly used to detect miRNAs, their extensive applications are restricted by the existent limitations, including the long processing time, high requirements of sample volumes, frequently occurred false-positive results and so on.…”

“…Although various detection methods such as qRT-PCR, northern blot as well as microarray are commonly used to detect miRNAs, their extensive applications are restricted by the existent limitations, including the long processing time, high requirements of sample volumes, frequently occurred false-positive results and so on. And in practical applications, several methods are often used together so as to promote the accuracy of the results, which make the detection process more complicated and increase the overall costs [70] . Therefore, more convenient, more reliable, faster and cheaper techniques are expected to be developed in the near future.…”