微小RNA分析技术研究进展

微小RNA（miRNA）是一类起重要调控作用的非编码小分子RNA。准确分析组织或细胞中miRNA的表达水平是研究其生物学功能的基础。近年，研究者开发出多种方法检测不同生理、病理过程中miRNA的差异表达，发现miRNA的异常表达与癌症等多种疾病密切相关。目前，miRNA已逐渐成为重要的疾病诊断生物标志物乃至治疗靶点。miRNA的分析技术贯穿miRNA的研究和药物研发过程，并起到关键作用。我们针对miRNA的不同研究阶段所采用的定性和定量分析方法，着重阐述了用于初始miRNA研究的克隆测序类技术、分析miRNA表达谱的高通量芯片技术、研究具体目标miRNA及其前体表达的qPCR和改良Northern印迹技术，以及将修饰后miRNA作为药物的药代动力学评价技术。

Advances in Analytical Technology of microRNA

microRNA（miRNA） is a kind of endogenous non-coding small RNA that play important roles in gene regulation. Accurate quantification of miRNA in tissues or cells is essential for clarifying molecular mecha-nisms and biological functions of miRNA. Multiple analytical technologies were developed to determine the expres-sion profile of miRNA in physiological and pathological conditions with the conclusion that the abnormal miRNA expression is closely related with various diseases including cancer. Up to now, miRNA is more and more being used as diagnostic biomarker, even target for gene therapy. Based on the advances in quantitative methods and their application in miRNA research, this review focused on several aspects as follows： cloning and sequencing techniques for initial miRNA study, high-throughput microarrays for miRNA expression profile, QPCR and im-proved Northern blot technologies which could quantify the hit-miRNA and its precursor, pharmacokinetics evalua-tion methods for miRNA-based drug candidates.