Vaca Luis
Instituto de Fisiología Celular, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria, DF 04510, Mexico.
Sensors (Basel). 2014 May 22;14(5):9117-31. doi: 10.3390/s140509117.
MicroRNAs or miRNAs are a form of small non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) of 19-22 nucleotides in length in their mature form. miRNAs are transcribed in the nucleus of all cells from large precursors, many of which have several kilobases in length. Originally identified as intracellular modulators of protein synthesis via posttranscriptional gene silencing, more recently it has been found that miRNAs can travel in extracellular human fluids inside specialized vesicles known as exosomes. We will be referring to this miRNAs as circulating microRNAs. More interestingly, the miRNA content inside exosomes changes during pathological events. In the present review we analyze the literature about circulating miRNAs and their possible use as biomarkers. Furthermore, we explore their future in point-of-care (POC) diagnostics and provide an example of a portable POC apparatus useful in the detection of circulating miRNAs.
微小RNA（miRNA）是一种成熟形式长度为19 - 22个核苷酸的小型非编码RNA（ncRNA）。miRNA在所有细胞的细胞核中由大型前体转录而来，其中许多前体长度达数千碱基。最初，miRNA被鉴定为通过转录后基因沉默对蛋白质合成进行细胞内调节的分子，最近发现miRNA可以在称为外泌体的特殊囊泡内存在于细胞外体液中。我们将这种miRNA称为循环微小RNA。更有趣的是，外泌体内的miRNA含量在病理过程中会发生变化。在本综述中，我们分析了有关循环miRNA及其作为生物标志物可能用途的文献。此外，我们探讨了它们在即时检测（POC）诊断中的未来，并提供了一种用于检测循环miRNA的便携式POC设备的示例。
