Department of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294, USA.
Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2013 Feb;33(2):170-7. doi: 10.1161/ATVBAHA.112.300068.
Inflammation is essential to combat invading microbial pathogens. In this process, the involvement of multiple immune cell populations is crucial in mounting an optimum immune response. In the past decade, a new class of noncoding small RNAs, called microRNAs (miRNAs), has emerged as important regulators in biological processes. The important role of miRNAs in inflammation and immune response is highlighted by studies in which deregulation of miRNAs was demonstrated to accompany diseases associated with excessive or uncontrolled inflammation. In this brief review, we summarize the roles of miRNAs that have been characterized in innate and adaptive immune responses. We discuss the role of miRNAs in macrophage polarization, a molecular event that has clear effect on inflammation.
炎症对于抵抗入侵的微生物病原体至关重要。在这个过程中，多种免疫细胞群体的参与对于产生最佳免疫反应至关重要。在过去的十年中，一类新的非编码小分子 RNA，称为 microRNAs (miRNAs)，已成为生物过程中的重要调节剂。miRNAs 在炎症和免疫反应中的重要作用在研究中得到了强调，在这些研究中，miRNAs 的失调被证明伴随着与过度或失控炎症相关的疾病。在这篇简要综述中，我们总结了已在固有和适应性免疫反应中得到表征的 miRNAs 的作用。我们讨论了 miRNAs 在巨噬细胞极化中的作用，这一分子事件对炎症有明显的影响。
