As a database, miRTarBase has accumulated more than three thousand miRNA-target interactions (MTIs), which are collected by manually surveying pertinent literature after data mining of the text systematically to filter research articles related to functional studies of miRNAs. Generally, the collected MTIs are validated experimentally by reporter assay, western blot, or microarray experiments with overexpression or knockdown of miRNAs. miRTarBase currently curates 4,270 experimentally verified MTIs between 669 miRNAs and 2,533 target genes among 14 species. While containing the largest amount of validated MTIs, the miRTarBase provides the most updated collection by comparing with other similar, previously developed databases.

Browse the database !!

If you make use of the data presented here, please cite the following article in addition to the primary data sources:
miRTarBase: a database curates experimentally validated microRNA-target interactions
Hsu SD, Lin FM, Wu WY, Liang C, Huang WC, Chan WL, Tsai WT, Chen GZ, Lee CJ, Chiu CM, Chien CH, Wu MC, Huang CY, Tsou AP, Huang HD. (2011) Nucleic acids research. [ PUBMED ]

Current curation

  • Number of miRNA-target interactions: 4,270
  • Number of miRNAs: 669
  • Number of target genes: 2,553
  • Number of species: 14
  • Number of articles: 1,380
  • Release 2.5: Oct. 15, 2011

How to donate your data?

Quick links for popular miRNAs or target genes

  • Example 1: hsa-miR-122 is a liver-specific microRNA which is significantly down-regulated in liver cancers.
  • Example 2: hsa-miR-1 - microRNA-1-1 (miR-1-1) and miR-1-2 are specifically expressed in cardiac and skeletal muscle precursor cells.
  • Example 3: CDKN1A - Cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 1A (CDKN1A), also known as p21Cip1/Waf1, is a master downstream effector of tumor suppressors.
  • Example 4: HIF1A - Hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha (HIF-1alpha) is widely considered to be one of the key regulators of tumor angiogenesis.
  • Example 5: HMGA2 is an important regulator of cell growth, differentiation, apoptosis, and transformation.

Related resources from ISBLAB

  • miRTar - An integrated web server for identifying miRNA-target interactions
  • miRStart - An database of microRNA transcription start sites
  • HomoloMTI - Homologous cluster of microRNA target interactions.
  • miRNAMap - Genomic maps of microRNAs in metazoan genomes
  • VITA - Prediction of host microRNAs targets on viruses
  • RegRNA - A Regulatory RNA Motifs and Elements Finder
  • RNALogo - A new approach to display structural RNA alignment