Validated MicroRNA Target Databases: An Evaluation

We examined the provided citations to determine the degree to which each interaction was experimentally supported. To assess stability, we tested at the beginning and end of a five‐month period. Results varied widely by database. Two of the databases changed significantly over the course of 5 months. Most reported evidence for miRNA: target interactions were indirect or otherwise weak, and relatively few interactions were supported by more than one publication. Some returned results appear to arise from simplistic text searches that offer no insight into the relationship of the search terms, may not even include the reported gene or miRNA, and may thus, be invalid. We conclude that validation databases provide important information, but not all information in all extant databases is up‐to‐date or accurate. Nevertheless, the more comprehensive validation databases may provide useful starting points for investigation of off‐target effects of proposed small RNA therapies. Drug Dev Res, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Source: Drug Development Research - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Tags: Research Article Source Type: research