Talk:MiRTarBase

The current article appears to describe an older release of miRTarBase. More recent peer-reviewed publications (e.g., Nucleic Acids Research database issues) report substantial updates to the database, including expanded collections of experimentally validated miRNA–target interactions and additional annotation layers.

I have a professional connection to miRTarBase as an author of related publications, so I want to be transparent about a potential conflict of interest. I am happy to propose specific, fully sourced, factual updates here for community review before making any changes. OrientC (talk) 07:22, 12 January 2026 (UTC)

This edit request by an editor with a conflict of interest has now been answered.

Edit request (COI disclosed):

I have a professional connection to miRTarBase as an author of related peer-reviewed publications. Because of this conflict of interest, I am requesting that uninvolved editors implement the changes below rather than editing the article directly.

Rationale: The current article and infobox reflect an old release (Version 4.5; release date 2013; >50,000 MTIs) and cite only the original database paper. The miRTarBase database has had multiple major peer-reviewed updates in Nucleic Acids Research (database issues), including the most recent release miRTarBase 2025 / version 10.0, with updated statistics and URLs.

1) Proposed infobox updates (factual fields)

Please update the infobox fields as follows (wording can be adjusted to match Wikipedia style):

Research center:

• Replace: “National Chiao Tung University”
• With: “The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen (CUHK-Shenzhen)” (optionally noting “Warshel Institute for Computational Biology” as the current host center). Evidence: The more recent database update papers list CUHK-Shenzhen / Warshel Institute affiliations (e.g., miRTarBase 2020). (If editors prefer historical accuracy, the body can note the database was originally developed at National Chiao Tung University in the original publication.)

Laboratory:

• Replace: “Institute of Bioinformatics and Systems Biology”
• With: “Warshel Institute for Computational Biology (School of Medicine, CUHK-Shenzhen)” (or “School of Life and Health Sciences / Warshel Institute for Computational Biology” depending on infobox conventions). Evidence: Recent updates explicitly include Warshel Institute / CUHK-Shenzhen affiliations.

Authors:

• Replace: “Sheng-Da Hsu”
• With (suggested): “Hsien-Da Huang and colleagues” (or another neutral phrasing such as “miRTarBase consortium / team”; editors can choose the most appropriate Wikipedia style). Evidence: Recent updates list broader author teams and the database’s corresponding leadership (e.g., miRTarBase 2025).

Primary citation:

• Replace: “Hsu et al. (2011)”
• With: “Cui et al. (2025)” (and keep the 2011 paper in the References as the original release). Evidence: The latest database-issue update is miRTarBase 2025 and describes the current release and scope.

Release date:

• Replace: “2013”
• With: “30 September 2024” (release date for miRTarBase 10.0 / 2025 update). Evidence: The 2025 update compares miRTarBase 9.0 vs 10.0 and lists release dates (10.0: 30 September 2024).

Version:

• Replace: “4.5”
• With: “10.0” Evidence: The 2025 update explicitly refers to “miRTarBase 10.0” and its continuous maintenance.

2) Proposed lead sentence refresh (minimal, factual)

The current lead states the database has “more than fifty thousand” MTIs. Please update to reflect the latest published statistics in the 2025 update paper.

Suggested replacement (example):

“The most recent update (miRTarBase 2025 / version 10.0) reports over 3,817,550 experimentally validated miRNA–target interactions curated from 13,690 articles.”

Evidence: miRTarBase 2025 abstract.

3) External links: update or remove outdated deep link

The article’s External links section currently contains an older deep link:

https://mirtarbase.cuhk.edu.cn/~miRTarBase/miRTarBase_2022/php/index.php

Since the infobox/sidebar already contains the Access/website address, this deep link is now redundant and version-specific. Please either:

• Replace it with the canonical homepage: http://mirtarbase.cuhk.edu.cn, or
• Remove the External links entry entirely (recommended if the infobox already provides the access link).

4) References expansion (add key database update papers)

Please expand the References section to include the major Nucleic Acids Research database-issue publications spanning 2011/2014/2016/2018/2020/2022/2025, using the following full templates:

Hsu, Sheng-Da; Lin, Feng-Mao; Wu, Wei-Yun; Liang, Chao; Huang, Wei-Chih; Chan, Wen-Ling; Tsai, Wen-Ting; Chen, Goun-Zhou; Lee, Chia-Jung; Chiu, Chih-Min; Chien, Chia-Hung; Wu, Ming-Chia; Huang, Chi-Ying; Tsou, Ann-Ping; Huang, Hsien-Da (2011). "miRTarBase: a database curates experimentally validated microRNA–target interactions". Nucleic Acids Research. 39 (Database issue): D163–D169. doi:10.1093/nar/gkq1107. PMID 21071411.

Hsu, Sheng-Da; Tseng, Yu-Ting; Shrestha, Sirjana; Lin, Yu-Ling; Khaleel, Anas; Chou, Chih-Hung; Chu, Chao-Fang; Huang, Hsi-Yuan; Lin, Ching-Min; Ho, Shu-Yi; Jian, Ting-Yan; Lin, Feng-Mao; Chang, Tzu-Hao; Weng, Shun-Long; Liao, Kuang-Wen; Liao, I-En; Liu, Chun-Chi; Huang, Hsien-Da (2014). "miRTarBase update 2014: an information resource for experimentally validated miRNA–target interactions". Nucleic Acids Research. 42 (D1): D78–D85. doi:10.1093/nar/gkt1266. PMID 24304892.

Chou, Chih-Hung; Chang, Nai-Wen; Shrestha, Sirjana; Hsu, Sheng-Da; Lin, Yu-Ling; Lee, Wei-Hsiang; Yang, Chi-Dung; Hong, Hsiao-Chin; Wei, Ting-Yen; Tu, Siang-Jyun; Tsai, Tzi-Ren; Ho, Shu-Yi; Jian, Ting-Yan; Hsu, Wen-Lian; Huang, Hsien-Da (2016). "miRTarBase 2016: updates to the experimentally validated miRNA–target interactions database". Nucleic Acids Research. 44 (D1): D239–D247. doi:10.1093/nar/gkv1258. PMID 26590260.

Chou, Chih-Hung; Shrestha, Sirjana; Yang, Chi-Dung; Chang, Nai-Wen; Lin, Yu-Ling; Liao, Kuang-Wen; Hsu, Wen-Lian; Huang, Hsien-Da (2018). "miRTarBase update 2018: a resource for experimentally validated microRNA–target interactions". Nucleic Acids Research. 46 (D1): D296–D302. doi:10.1093/nar/gkx1067. PMID 29126174.

Huang, Hsi-Yuan; Lin, Yang-Chi-Dung; Li, Jing; Huang, Kai-Yao; Shrestha, Sirjana; Cui, Shi-Dong; Wei, Feng-Xiang; Huang, Hsien-Da (2020). "miRTarBase 2020: updates to the experimentally validated microRNA–target interaction database". Nucleic Acids Research. 48 (D1): D148–D154. doi:10.1093/nar/gkz896. PMID 31647101.

Huang, Hsi-Yuan; Lin, Yang-Chi-Dung; Cui, Shidong; Huang, Yixian; Wei, Fengxiang; Lee, Tzong-Yi; Huang, Hsien-Da (2022). "miRTarBase update 2022: an informative resource for experimentally validated miRNA–target interactions". Nucleic Acids Research. 50 (D1): D222–D230. doi:10.1093/nar/gkab1079. PMID 34850920.

Cui, Shidong; Yu, Sicong; Huang, Hsi-Yuan; Lin, Yang-Chi-Dung; Huang, Yixian; Zhang, Bojian; Xiao, Jihan; Zuo, Huali; Wang, Jiayi; Li, Zhuoran; Liang, Wang; Huang, Hsien-Da (2025). "miRTarBase 2025: updates to the collection of experimentally validated microRNA–target interactions". Nucleic Acids Research. 53 (D1): D147–D156. doi:10.1093/nar/gkae1072. PMID 39578692.

I am happy to adjust wording or scope based on reviewer feedback.

End of request. OrientC (talk) 08:24, 13 January 2026 (UTC)

@OrientC: Appreciate your flagging a potential COI. These all seem quite fair edits, I will attempt to incorporate them into the article. Dbsseven (talk) 11:22, 2 February 2026 (UTC)

and done! Dbsseven (talk) 11:38, 2 February 2026 (UTC)

@Dbsseven Thank you very much for reviewing and implementing the updates — I really appreciate it. I've checked the article and everything looks good on my end. I'll mark the edit request as answered. OrientC (talk) 14:05, 2 February 2026 (UTC)