Detection of microRNAs in prostate cancer cells by microRNA array

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a novel class of small noncoding RNAs that regulate gene expression at the posttranscriptional level and play a critical role in many important biological processes and pathological development. In the past few years, miRNAs have been implicated to play an important role in cancer initiation and development. In this chapter, we describe a protocol for the analysis and characterization of miRNAs in prostate cancer cells using a simple but effective array platform. The array is composed of 553 nonredundant miRNAs encompassing the entire set of known miRNAs in humans and mice. As an example, profiling of miRNAs in four prostate cancer cell lines has revealed that a set of miRNAs were differentially expressed between androgen-dependent and androgen-independent metastatic prostate cancer cells. Among them, the differential expression of miR-205 and miR-200c were further validated by Northern blot analysis in these two types of prostate cancer cells. This comprehensive and easy-to-follow protocol will be useful for studying miRNAs in various cancers and can be readily adapted for miRNA analysis in a variety of human diseases.