Application of miRNA-seq in neuropsychiatry: A methodological perspective

MiRNAs are emerging as key molecules to study neuropsychiatric diseases. However, despite the large number of methodologies and software for miRNA-seq analyses, there is little supporting literature for researchers in this area. This review focuses on evaluating how miRNA-seq has been used to study neuropsychiatric diseases to date, analyzing both the main findings discovered and the bioinformatics workflows and tools used from a methodological perspective. The objective of this review is two-fold: first, to evaluate current miRNA-seq procedures used in neuropsychiatry; and second, to offer comprehensive information that can serve as a guide to new researchers in bioinformatics. After conducting a systematic search (from 2016 to June 30, 2020) of articles using miRNA-seq in neuropsychiatry, we have seen that it has already been used for different types of studies in three main categories: diagnosis, prognosis, and mechanism. We carefully analyzed the bioinformatics workflows of each study, observing a high degree of variability with respect to the tools and methods used and several methodological complexities that are identified and discussed in this review.