The invention provides a method for identifying or detectingsmall RNA (sRNA) predictors of a disease or a condition. Themethod comprises identifying one or more sRNA sequences that arepresent in one or more samples of an experimental cohort, and whichare not present across a comparator cohort； and optionally identifyingone or more sRNA sequences that are present in one or more samplesof a comparator cohort, and which are not present across an experimentalcohort. In contrast to identifying dysregulated non-coding RNAs(such as miRs that are up- or down-regulated), the invention identifiessRNAs that are binary predictors, that is, present in one cohort (e.g., anexperimental cohort) and not another (e.g., a comparator cohort). Further,by quantifying reads for individual sequences (e.g., iso-miRs),without consolidating reads to annotated reference sequences, the inventionunlocks the diagnostic utility of miRs and other sRNAs.
