Hang Pengzhou, Guo Jing, Sun Chuan, Du Zhimin
Institute of Clinical Pharmacology of the Second Affiliated Hospital, Harbin Medical University, Xuefu Road 246#, Nangang District, Harbin 150086, Heilongjiang Province, China.
Curr Drug Targets. 2017;18(4):463-472. doi: 10.2174/1389450117666160301101221.
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small conserved noncoding RNAs which function as posttranscriptional regulators of gene expression. Studies over the last 20 years have revealed the essential functions of miRNAs in regulating cardiovascular biology (such as cardiovascular cell differentiation, growth, proliferation and apoptosis) and crucial roles in controlling cardiovascular disease (CVD), indicating the potential of these small molecules as therapeutic targets and/or agents for CVD. Moreover, miRNAs in the circulation or other body fluids are stable and readily detectable, and more importantly often disease-associated, which makes them promising novel biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis of CVDs. Furthermore, emerging evidence uncovered miRNAs as new targets and/or regulators of cardiovascular medications given the ability of miRNAs to interact with some cardiovascular drugs, which opens up new opportunities for the research and development of novel CVD drugs. Herein, we summarize current knowledge regarding the potential applications of miRNAs in the therapy of CVD, including myocardial ischemia, cardiac hypertrophy/heart failure, interstitial fibrosis, arrhythmia, diabetes and hypertension and discuss the therapeutic potential and challenge of miRNAs in drug discovery.
微小RNA（miRNA）是一类保守的小非编码RNA，作为基因表达的转录后调节因子发挥作用。过去20年的研究揭示了miRNA在调节心血管生物学过程（如心血管细胞分化、生长、增殖和凋亡）中的重要功能，以及在控制心血管疾病（CVD）中的关键作用，表明这些小分子作为CVD治疗靶点和/或药物的潜力。此外，循环或其他体液中的miRNA稳定且易于检测，更重要的是它们通常与疾病相关，这使得它们有望成为CVD诊断和预后的新型生物标志物。此外，新出现的证据表明，鉴于miRNA能够与某些心血管药物相互作用，miRNA是心血管药物的新靶点和/或调节因子，这为新型CVD药物的研发开辟了新机遇。在此，我们总结了关于miRNA在CVD治疗中的潜在应用的现有知识，包括心肌缺血、心脏肥大/心力衰竭、间质纤维化、心律失常、糖尿病和高血压，并讨论了miRNA在药物发现中的治疗潜力和挑战。
