Table 1 Major platforms for microRNA profiling

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