MicroRNA Profiling Using Fluorescence-Labeled Beads: Data Acquisition and Processing

The discovery of small regulatory RNA molecules during the last years has changed our understanding of many biological and pathological processes. The most prominent and best analyzed class of these small regulatory noncoding RNAs is composed of the microRNAs. The analysis of microRNA expression patterns is now widely used in biology and pathology employing a range of methodologies. However, procedures for data processing and calculations are far from standardized and differ considerably between published studies. This makes comparisons and meta-analyses still quite difficult. In this chapter, we describe a modified method for normalization and processing of raw data obtained if utilizing fluorescence-labeled bead technology from Luminex. Inc.