title: microRNA Expression Profiling: Technologies, Insights, and Prospects.
abstract: Since the early days of microRNA (miRNA) research, miRNA expression profiling technologies have provided important tools toward both better understanding of the biological functions of miRNAs and using miRNA expression as potential diagnostics. Multiple technologies, such as microarrays, next-generation sequencing, bead-based detection system, single-molecule measurements, and quantitative RT-PCR, have enabled accurate quantification of miRNAs and the subsequent derivation of key insights into diverse biological processes. As a class of ~22 nt long small noncoding RNAs, miRNAs present unique challenges in expression profiling that require careful experimental design and data analyses. We will particularly discuss how normalization and the presence of miRNA isoforms can impact data interpretation. We will present one example in which the consideration in data normalization has provided insights that helped to establish the global miRNA expression as a tumor suppressor. Finally, we discuss two future prospects of using miRNA profiling technologies to understand single cell variability and derive new rules for the functions of miRNA isoforms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Yale Stem Cell Center and Yale Cancer Center, Yale University School of Medicine, 10 Amistad Street, Rm 237C, New Haven, CT, 06520-8005, USA.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Roden
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Yale Stem Cell Center and Yale Cancer Center, Yale University School of Medicine, 10 Amistad Street, Rm 237C, New Haven, CT, 06520-8005, USA.
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mastriano
authors.affiliation: The Biomedical Engineering Graduate Program, New Haven, CT, 06520, USA.
authors.forename: Nayi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Yale Stem Cell Center and Yale Cancer Center, Yale University School of Medicine, 10 Amistad Street, Rm 237C, New Haven, CT, 06520-8005, USA. jun.lu@yale.edu.|Yale Center for RNA Science and Medicine, New Haven, CT, 06520, USA. jun.lu@yale.edu.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling / Q000379:methods*; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs