Nanomaterials on the road to microRNA detection with optical and electrochemical nanobiosensors

•We overview trends in the various nanomaterial-based miRNA biosensors.•We discuss basic concepts of nanomaterial-based miRNA biosensors.•Nanomaterial-based platforms are used for the detection of miRNA.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are an abundant class of small non-protein-coding single-stranded RNAs that are generated from endogenous hair-pin-shaped transcripts. These gene regulators function by binding the 3′ untranslated regions of specific target mRNA and result in gene inactivation by repression of mRNA translation or induction of mRNA. Changes in miRNA profiles are linked to different states and can be used as markers for diagnosis of the change(s) in the corresponding state(s). Thus, many technological tools have been devised to detect the changes in the miRNA profiles. In the current study, we overview the application of nanomaterials as a platform for optical and electrochemical detection of microRNA and discuss recent progress in the field.