Yang Baofeng, Lu Yanjie, Wang Zhiguo
Department of Pharmacology , Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Heilongjiang 150086, P.R. China.
Cardiovasc Res. 2008 Sep 1;79(4):571-80. doi: 10.1093/cvr/cvn181. Epub 2008 Jul 9.
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in developed countries. The pathological process of the heart is associated with an altered expression profile of genes that are important for cardiac function. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have recently emerged as one of the central players of gene expression regulation. The implications of miRNAs in the pathological process of the cardiovascular system have recently been recognized, and research on miRNAs in relation to cardiovascular disease has now become a most rapidly evolving field. In this review, we focus on miRNAs and control of cardiac excitability, aiming to provide a comprehensive overview on the available experimental data on regulation of cardiac conduction, repolarization, and automaticity by miRNAs. Aberrant expression of miRNAs in the diseased state of the heart and their arrhythmogenic or anti-arrhythmic potential will be discussed. Finally, the innovative miRNA-interference technologies developed lately for manipulating the action of miRNAs by interfering with their expression, stability, and function as new approaches for miRNA research and gene therapy will be introduced.
心血管疾病是发达国家发病和死亡的主要原因。心脏的病理过程与对心脏功能至关重要的基因表达谱改变有关。微小RNA（miRNA）最近已成为基因表达调控的核心参与者之一。miRNA在心血管系统病理过程中的作用最近已得到认可，目前关于miRNA与心血管疾病关系的研究已成为发展最为迅速的领域。在本综述中，我们聚焦于miRNA与心脏兴奋性的调控，旨在全面概述有关miRNA对心脏传导、复极化和自律性调控的现有实验数据。我们将讨论心脏疾病状态下miRNA的异常表达及其致心律失常或抗心律失常潜力。最后，将介绍最近开发的创新型miRNA干扰技术，这些技术通过干扰miRNA的表达、稳定性和功能来操纵其作用，作为miRNA研究和基因治疗的新方法。
