Table 3.

Clinical and pre-clinical molecular methods for detection of nucleic acids.

Method	Advantage	Disadvantage	Ref.
Microarrays	Analysis of thousands of genes in a single test to create molecular tumour profiles	Require long hybridisation times Prolonged wash steps that can take up to 24 h	[84]
RT-PCR	DNA amplification increases sensitivity Test multiple samples simultaneously	Requires a series of temperature changes Tedious sample preparation Equipment	[85]
Nano pore sensor	Label-free. Small sample size Amplification free Distinguish single-nucleotide differences	No reproducibility or adaptability of biological system	[86]
Micro-fluid devices	Rapid purification of nucleic acids	Challenging to integrate blood pre-treatment steps	[87]
A three-mode electrochemical sensor (HPD-SENS)	Detect low concentrations of miRNA 10 aM to 1 mM range Multiple miRNAs on a single electrode. Exhibits high selectivity and specificity.	Detection of low of copy number of sample of DNA/RNA in samples for early onset of a disease	[88]