Current progress in quantitative detection of microRNA

With the recent development of investigating biological functions of microRNA(miRNA), the importance of miRNA in the biological processes including developmental biology, metabolic regulation, disease progression and treatment has been well recognized. Due to its the instability, low level of expression and minor difference in sequence, more sophisticated analytical methods for rapid and easy quantitative detection of miRNA with strong specificity and high sensitivity play an important role in the study of the biological functions of miRNA. This review analyzes and compares recent quantitative methods to detect miRNA, with an attempt to provide a foundation for choosing an appropriate method to quantitatively analyze miRNA.