Table 1.

Major platforms for microRNA profiling

Method	Execution time	Sample input	Cost	Advantages	Disadvantages
qPCR	<6 hours	10-500 ng	<$300	High sensitivity, large dynamic range (~6 orders of magnitude), reproducibility, accessibility, compatible with several sources of biological material	Low throughput, unable to detect novel or modified miRNAs, variability across platforms
Microfluidic qPCR platforms	<6 hours	10-500 ng	<$300	High throughput, high sensitivity, large dynamic range (~6 orders of magnitude), reproducibility, compatible with several sources of biological material	Unable to detect novel or modified miRNAs, variability across platforms
Microarray	48 hours	100 ng-1 μg	~$300	High throughput, well optimized, well established analysis methods	Generally cannot distinguish mature from pre-miRNAs, might require a non-specific amplification step
Next generation sequencing	2 weeks	500 ng-5 μg	>$1000	High throughput, useful for miRNA discovery and modified miRNA detection, high sensitivity, large dynamic range (~5 orders of magnitude)	Large investment and bioinformatics expertise required, slow turnover, may suffer from non-linearity in the amplification step

miRNA, microRNA; qPCR, quantitative polymerase chain reaction.