Table 2.

Platforms for detection of lncRNA

Technology	RNA quantity	Basic principle	Advantages	Disadvantages
qPCR	Nanograms	Amplifies a specific region of interest. Uses fluorescence signals to quantify PCR product.	Well-established and cost-effective technique. Less amount of starting material needed. Results are reproducible.	Requires reference genes and standard curves. Not effective at detecting small amounts of RNA.
dPCR	Nanograms	Partitions sample into multiple smaller reactions, performs amplification and detects ratio of positive to negative reactions.	Improved precision and accuracy. No need to depend on standard curves of endogenous controls. High sensitivity.	Expensive and lengthy procedure.
Microarrays	30 ng–5 µg	Probes are hybridized to fluorescent-labeled RNA. Probes are scanned and processed to detect RNA expression.	Able to simultaneously detect several genes. Can be customized.	Low sensitivity. Expression levels are lower for lncRNA.
NanoString nCounter Gene Expression Assay	Single cell	Probes are hybridized to target RNA. Machine digitally counts color-coded probe pairs to quantify gene expression.	Can detect multiple genes in a single reaction. High sensitivity and specificity.	Expensive technique.
NGS	1–5 µg	Template is created. Adaptors bind to gene of interest. Gene is amplified and sequenced.	High-throughput sequencing. Reduced cost and lessened sequencing time.	Shorter average read lengths. Data analysis is time-consuming and complex.