Biomarkers are biomolecules in the human body that can indicate disease states and abnormal biological processes. Biomarkers are often used during clinical trials to identify patients with cancers. Although biomedical research related to biomarkers has increased over the years and substantial effort has been expended to obtain results in these studies, the specific results obtained often contain ambiguities, and the results might contradict each other.
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short non-coding RNAs that play important roles in post-transcriptional regulations as well as other important biological processes. Recently, accumulating evidences indicate that miRNAs are extensively involved in cancer. However, it is a big challenge to identify which miRNAs are related to which cancer considering the complex processes involved in tumors, where one miRNA may target hundreds or even thousands of genes and one gene may regulate multiple miRNAs.
Contamination of a cancer tissue by the surrounding benign (non-cancerous) tissue is a concern for molecular cancer diagnostics. This is because an observed molecular signature will be distorted by the surrounding benign tissue, possibly leading to an incorrect diagnosis. One example is molecular identification of the primary tumor site of metastases because biopsies of metastases typically contain a significant amount of benign tissue.
The current state-of-the-art in cancer diagnosis and treatment is not ideal; diagnostic tests are accurate but invasive, and treatments are "one-size fits-all" instead of being personalized. Recently, miRNA's have garnered significant attention as cancer biomarkers, owing to their ease of access (circulating miRNA in the blood) and stability. There have been many studies showing the effectiveness of miRNA data in diagnosing specific cancer types, but few studies explore the role of miRNA in predicting treatment outcome.
Our database aim to make it easy for researchers to find the right tools or data source for their own specific study in miRNA field. Now we have collect >1000 tools. This database will update when every new 100 tools add in. Last update time 22nd April, 2018 (v1.2).
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