Ophthalmology Clinic, Department of Neurological and Visual Science, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
Department of Medicine and Science of Ageing, Eye Clinic, "G. d'Annunzio" University - Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy.
Prog Retin Eye Res. 2014 Nov;43:92-107. doi: 10.1016/j.preteyeres.2014.07.003. Epub 2014 Aug 14.
Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the leading cause of vision loss in the working-age adults. It affects a third of diabetics. Diabetic macular edema, an advanced complication of DR, develops in nearly 7% of diabetic patients. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a novel group of non-coding small RNAs that post-transcriptionally control gene expression by promoting either degradation or translational repression of target messenger RNA. They are implicated in a large variety of physiological and pathophysiological processes, including glucose homeostasis, angiogenesis and modulation of inflammatory response. MiRNAs also play a critical role in the pathogenesis of diabetes and the related micro- and macrovascular complications. The purpose of this review is to describe the potential role of miRNAs in diabetes and evaluate their implication in DR. MiRNAs involved in the modulation of glucose metabolism (insulin secretion and sensitivity) and MiRNAs playing a role in the pathogenesis of DR with their potential target genes are reviewed. Understanding MiRNAs implication in DR could be helpful for developing new gain- or loss- of -function strategies in order to establish effective treatments and reduce the rate of visual disability due to progression of retinopathy.
糖尿病性视网膜病变（DR）是导致工作年龄成年人视力丧失的主要原因。它影响了三分之一的糖尿病患者。糖尿病性黄斑水肿（DR 的一种晚期并发症）在近 7%的糖尿病患者中发展。microRNAs（miRNAs）是一类新的非编码小分子 RNA，通过促进靶信使 RNA 的降解或翻译抑制来在后转录水平上控制基因表达。它们参与了大量的生理和病理生理过程，包括葡萄糖稳态、血管生成和炎症反应的调节。miRNAs 在糖尿病及其相关的微血管和大血管并发症的发病机制中也起着关键作用。本综述的目的是描述 miRNAs 在糖尿病中的潜在作用，并评估其在 DR 中的意义。本文综述了参与调节葡萄糖代谢（胰岛素分泌和敏感性）的 miRNAs 以及在 DR 发病机制中发挥作用的 miRNAs 及其潜在的靶基因。了解 miRNAs 在 DR 中的作用可能有助于开发新的功能增益或功能丧失策略，以建立有效的治疗方法，降低因视网膜病变进展导致视力丧失的发生率。
