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miRNA Analysis

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have rapidly emerged as an important class of short endogenous RNAs that act as post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression by base-pairing with their target mRNAs. Recent bioinformatic predictions combined with array analyses, small RNA cloning and Northern blot validation indicate that the total number of miRNAs in vertebrate genomes is significantly higher than previously estimated and maybe as many as 1000. An increasing body of research using different technologies including microarrays have shown that animal miRNAs play fundamental biological roles in cell growth and apoptosis, hematopoietic lineage differentiation, homeobox gene regulation, neuronal asymmetry, insulin secretion, brain morphogenesis, cardiogenesis, embryonic development in vertebrates and the list continues to grow. The expanding inventory of human miRNAs along with their highly diverse expression patterns and high number of potential target mRNAs suggest that miRNAs are involved in a wide variety of human diseases. Expression analysis of a diversity of human cancers revealed a general down-regulation of miRNAs in tumors compared to normal tissues. Interestingly, miRNA-based classification of poorly differentiated tumors was successful, whereas mRNA profiles were highly inaccurate when applied to the same samples.

Given the impact of miRNA's on the biomedical research, we have launched a comprehensive service for miRNA expression profiling. More Details...