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Why can microRNA (miRNA) become a predictive tool for cancer and cardiovascular disease?
With the continuous advancement of biomedical technology, microRNA (miRNA) has gradually become a key tool for the diagnosis and prediction of cancer and cardiovascular diseases. These small noncoding RNAs not only play important roles in gene regulation, but also provide key information in various physiological and pathological processes. Studies have shown that miRNA detection technology is becoming increasingly mature, especially with the development of new biosensors, which has enabled miRNA detection to be further improved in sensitivity and specificity, providing new hope for early diagnosis of patients and monitoring of treatment responses.
Basic concepts of miRNA
MicroRNAs are a class of small non-coding RNAs with a length between 18 and 25 base pairs. They can regulate gene expression post-transcriptionally, are widely present in animals and plants, and have regulatory effects on cellular mechanisms. Not only are miRNAs closely related to a variety of diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular disease, they are also abundant in body fluids such as saliva, urine and blood, which makes the process of detecting them more non-invasive and more comfortable for patients.
Advances in miRNA Detection Technology
As early as 1993, biologist Victor Ambros isolated the first miRNA (lin-4) from Caenorhabditis elegans, and various detection technologies have emerged since then. Although traditional Northern blotting has high specificity, it has low sensitivity and is time-consuming. In comparison, real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) has higher sensitivity and specificity, but its complexity and high cost remain a major challenge.
In the past few years, miRNA detection technology has gradually entered the high-throughput era, which provides a new perspective for us to understand the early diagnosis and prognosis of diseases.
Principle of miRNA biosensor
The miRNA biosensor mainly consists of three basic components, namely, the biorecognition element, the transducer and the signal processor. The biorecognition element specifically detects specific miRNAs, and the transducer converts the recognized signals into measurable data. Subsequently, the signal processor amplifies and processes the data and finally outputs a visual result.
Specificity and sensitivity of miRNA
The specificity of miRNA refers to the ability of a biosensor to accurately identify a specific miRNA in a sample with multiple components. Since the gene sequences of miRNAs may differ by only one nucleotide, designing a highly specific biosensor has become a Big challenge. In addition, sensitivity refers to the ability to detect low concentrations of miRNA in a sample, which usually involves enhancing recognition elements and signal amplification technologies.
Advantages of electrochemical biosensors
Electrochemical biosensors have significant advantages in the field of miRNA detection. They can reduce production costs through simple electronic devices and have application potential in many fields such as environmental, clinical and food testing. Electrochemical detection is based on measuring changes in electrode properties, making real-time analysis of biosensors possible.
Data show that biosensors using advanced materials such as gold nanoparticles can increase detection sensitivity to the picomolar (pM) level.
Development of optical and mechanical biosensors
Optical miRNA biosensors use optical signals to convert detection results and have shown good sensitivity and specificity. Mechanical biosensors use technologies such as atomic force microscopy to obtain detection results related to miRNA, which is particularly effective for the detection of various cancer samples.
Future Development Direction
In the future, miRNA detection technology may further integrate multiple technologies and develop into a multiple detection platform to simultaneously detect the expression levels of multiple miRNAs, which will profoundly change the early diagnosis and prediction of diseases. In addition, CRISPR-based technology has also shown great potential, enabling layout detection without the need for amplification, significantly improving detection efficiency.
With the advancement of technology, what role will miRNA research play in the early diagnosis and treatment of cancer and cardiovascular diseases? Will it become a hot topic in future research?
