mRNA expression data from overexpression or inhibition of miR-340 in 451 Lu melanoma cells

Characterizing miRNA function remains challenging due to an abundance of predicted targets and an experimental bottleneck in identifying biologically relevant direct targets. We developed a novel technique (miFAST) to identify direct miRNA target genes. Using miFAST, we confirmed several previously reported miR-340 target genes and identified five additional novel direct miR-340 targets in melanoma cells. This methodology can also be efficiently applied for the global characterization of miRNA targets. miR-340 inhibited or overexpressed 451 Lu melanoma cells were used for RNA extraction and hybridization onto Affymetrix microarrays.