Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

MicroRNAs

MicroRNAs

MicroRNA (miRNA) are short, regulatory RNA transcribed from introns (non-coding regions of a gene) or intergenic regions (stretches of DNA present between genes). Several processing steps are required to form biologically active, mature miRNA. The initial transcript, called primary miRNA (pri-mRNA), base-pairs with itself, forming a stem-loop structure. Within the nucleus, an endonuclease enzyme, called Drosha, shortens the stem-loop structure into hairpin-shaped pre-miRNA. After the pre-miRNA...

MicroRNAs

MicroRNAs

MicroRNA (miRNA) are short, regulatory RNA transcribed from introns—non-coding regions of a gene—or intergenic regions—stretches of DNA present between genes. Several processing steps are required to form biologically active, mature miRNA. The initial transcript, called primary miRNA (pri-mRNA), base-pairs with itself forming a stem-loop structure. Within the nucleus, an endonuclease enzyme, called Drosha, shortens the stem-loop structure into hairpin-shaped pre-miRNA. After...

MicroRNAs

MicroRNAs

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Human endogenous retrovirus envelope proteins alter extracellular vesicle cellular interactions and biodistribution.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2026

Same author

Proteomic identification and validation of novel neuronal EV-based markers for Alzheimer's disease biomarker discovery.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2026

Same author

Proteomic profiling of brain organoids and extracellular vesicles identifies early Alzheimer's disease biomarkers and drug response heterogeneity.

Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association·2026

Same author

Circulating extracellular vesicle microRNAs mediate immune modulation of social behavior in male mice.

Nature communications·2026

Same author

Extracellular vesicle analysis.

Nature reviews. Methods primers·2026

Same author

Tissue-Specific Extracellular Vesicles Enriched From Circulation: Exploring the Liquid Biopsy Perspective.

Journal of extracellular biology·2026

Same journal

Design-Expert Assisted Formulation Development, Optimization, and Evaluation of Selegiline and Biochanin A Loaded Self-Nanoemulsifying Drug Delivery System.

Drug development research·2026

Same journal

Contrastive Learning-Powered Ultrafast Genome-Wide Virtual Screening: The Rise of DrugCLIP.

Drug development research·2026

Same journal

Design, Synthesis, and Biological Evaluation of Chiral Urea and Thiourea Derivatives as Multitarget-Directed Anti-Alzheimer Agents.

Drug development research·2026

Same journal

Benzimidazole-Based VEGFR-2 Inhibitors Inspired by Sorafenib: Synthesis, Biological Evaluation, and Mechanistic Insights.

Drug development research·2026

Same journal

Luliconazole Potentiates Efficacy of Miltefosine Against Leishmania donovani.

Drug development research·2026

Same journal

Naphthalene-4H-Chromene Molecular Hybrids as Dual Cholinesterase Inhibitors for the Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease.

Drug development research·2026

See all related articles

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Apr 5, 2026

A Complete Pipeline for Isolating and Sequencing MicroRNAs, and Analyzing Them Using Open Source Tools

A Complete Pipeline for Isolating and Sequencing MicroRNAs, and Analyzing Them Using Open Source Tools

Published on: August 21, 2019

Validated MicroRNA Target Databases: An Evaluation.

Yun Ji Diana Lee¹, Veronica Kim¹, Dillon C Muth¹

¹Department of Molecular and Comparative Pathobiology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 733 N. Broadway, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA.

Drug Development Research

|August 20, 2015

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

MicroRNA (miRNA) therapeutics show promise, but predicting off-target effects is challenging. A review of miRNA target databases revealed inaccuracies and inconsistencies, highlighting the need for careful validation of these resources.

Keywords:

database interaction microRNA off-target effect validation

More Related Videos

Biotin-based Pulldown Assay to Validate mRNA Targets of Cellular miRNAs

Biotin-based Pulldown Assay to Validate mRNA Targets of Cellular miRNAs

Published on: June 12, 2018

Genome-wide Screen for miRNA Targets Using the MISSION Target ID Library

Genome-wide Screen for miRNA Targets Using the MISSION Target ID Library

Published on: April 6, 2012

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Apr 5, 2026

A Complete Pipeline for Isolating and Sequencing MicroRNAs, and Analyzing Them Using Open Source Tools

A Complete Pipeline for Isolating and Sequencing MicroRNAs, and Analyzing Them Using Open Source Tools

Published on: August 21, 2019

Biotin-based Pulldown Assay to Validate mRNA Targets of Cellular miRNAs

Biotin-based Pulldown Assay to Validate mRNA Targets of Cellular miRNAs

Published on: June 12, 2018

Genome-wide Screen for miRNA Targets Using the MISSION Target ID Library

Genome-wide Screen for miRNA Targets Using the MISSION Target ID Library

Published on: April 6, 2012

Area of Science:

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Pharmacology and Therapeutics

Background:

MicroRNA (miRNA) research shows promise for novel therapeutics targeting gene expression.
Assessing potential off-target effects of miRNA-based therapies is crucial for safety and efficacy.
Existing databases of experimentally validated miRNA:target interactions are incomplete and their accuracy is uncertain.

Purpose of the Study:

To evaluate the performance and stability of four major miRNA:target interaction databases.
To assess the quality and experimental support for reported miRNA:target interactions.
To determine the reliability of these databases for predicting miRNA off-target effects.

Main Methods:

Systematic evaluation of four miRNA target databases: miRWalk 2.0, miRTarBase, miRecords, and TarBase 7.0.
Analysis of 50 alphabetically consecutive genes to identify reported miRNA targets.
Examination of supporting citations for experimental validation and assessment of database stability over five months.

Main Results:

Significant variation in performance and content was observed across the evaluated databases.
Two databases showed substantial changes in data over a five-month period, indicating instability.
Many reported interactions lacked strong experimental support, with some results likely stemming from simplistic text searches.

Conclusions:

While miRNA validation databases offer valuable information, their accuracy and up-to-dateness are not guaranteed.
The quality of evidence for reported miRNA:target interactions varies considerably, with limited cross-validation.
Comprehensive databases can serve as starting points for investigating off-target effects of small RNA therapies, but results require rigorous validation.