Micro-RNA Regulation of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells and Its Significance in Cardiovascular Diseases.

Micro-RNA Regulation of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells and Its Significance in Cardiovascular Diseases.

Nguyen DND;Chilian WM;Zain SM;Daud MF;Pung YF

Canadian Journal Of Physiology And Pharmacology

2021

2021-02-02

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is among the leading causes of death worldwide. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), regulatory molecules that repress protein expression, have attracted considerable attention in CVD research. The vasculature plays a big role in CVD development and progression and dysregulation of vascular cells underlies the root of many vascular diseases. This review provides a brief introduction of the biogenesis of miRNAs and exosomes, followed by overview of the regulatory mechanisms of miRNAs in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) intracellular signaling during phenotypic switching, senescence, calcification, and neointimal hyperplasia. Evidence of extracellular signaling of VSMCs and other cells via exosomal and circulating miRNAs is also presented. Lastly, current drawbacks and limitations of miRNA studies in CVD research and potential ways to overcome these disadvantages are discussed in detail. In-depth understanding of VSMC regulation via miRNAs will add substantial knowledge and advance research in diagnosis, disease progression, and (or) miRNA-derived therapeutic approaches in CVD research.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) refers to conditions affecting the heart and blood vessels in humans and is among the leading causes of death worldwide (World Health Organization 2017). Recently, microRNAs (miRNAs) have attracted considerable attention in CVD research. MiRNAs are regulatory RNA molecules that play a major role in post-transcriptional modification, which regulate gene expression via gene silencing pathways. Unique miRNA expression profiles have been identified in different tissues, suggesting the potential use of miRNAs as specific biomarkers for diagnosis of pathological tissues. Furthermore, accumulating evidence has suggested that miRNAs could be secreted to the extracellular matrix (ECM) or bloodstream to facilitate intercellular communication (Creemers et al. 2012; Kapustin and Shanahan 2016; Kapustin et al. 2015, 2017; X. Lin et al. 2016; Théry et al. 2006; Zheng et al. 2017).

Journal Article

NEOMED College of Medicine

Department of Integrative Medical Sciences

Jan to Aug list 2021