Table 2.

Advantages and disadvantages of the current methods used to detect microRNAs.

Methods	Advantages	Disadvantages	References
qPCR	Widely used method for sensitivity.	Lack of multiplexing and genome-wide coverage, biases and errors due to exponential amplification.	(86)
Northern blotting	Detects non-amplified microRNAs.	Requirement of large amount of starting materials, radioactivity, less sensitive, time consuming, labor-intensive.	(87)
In situ hybridization	Spatiotemporal distribution in cells or tissue sections.	Laborious, requires specialized skills and instruments, time consuming, non-specific.	(88)
Microarray	Provides genome-wide coverage.	Requires specific probes and specialized equipment, data normalization is difficult and lacks reproducibility among various platforms.	(89)
Next generation sequencing	Provides genome-wide coverage, identifies novel microRNAs and SNPs in microRNAs.	Requires specialized equipment, skilled bioinformatician, complicated data analysis.	(90)
Isothermal exponential amplification	High sensitivity, efficient signal amplification, does not require thermocycling equipment.	Requires multiple enzymes including a nicking enzyme and probe design is complicated.	(93)