In less than a decade, a new type of RNA — microRNA (miRNA) — has gone from curiosity to one of the most important sets of regulatory molecules in the body. And because these short pieces of RNA are associated with specific tissues and functions, and because they circulate stably in the bloodstream, they have great potential as diagnostic biomarkers for cancer and other diseases. The major obstacle to realizing that potential is that miRNAs are present in blood at levels too low to detect reliably with today’s applicable biomolecular detection technology.
