From the Department of Animal Science and Medicine, College of Coastal Agricultural Sciences, Guangdong Ocean University, Zhanjiang, China.
Nawaz Sharif Medical College, University of Gujrat, Punjab, Pakistan.
Pancreas. 2020 Oct;49(9):1131-1140. doi: 10.1097/MPA.0000000000001655.
MicroRNAs are a type of noncoding RNAs that regulates the expression of target genes at posttranscriptional level. MicroRNAs play essential roles in regulating the expression of different genes involved in pancreatic development, β-cell mass maintenance, and β-cell function. Alteration in the level of miRNAs involved in β-cell function leads to the diabetes. Being an epidemic, diabetes threatens the life of millions of patients posing a pressing demand for its urgent resolve. However, the currently available therapies are not substantial to cure the diabetic epidemic. Thus, researchers are trying to find new ways to replenish the β-cell mass in patients with diabetes. One promising approach is the in vivo regeneration of β-cell mass or increasing the efficiency of β-cell function. Another clinical strategy is the transplantation of in vitro developed β-like cells. Owing to their role in pancreatic β-cell development, maintenance, functioning and their involvement in diabetes, overexpression or attenuation of different miRNAs can cause β-cell regeneration in vivo or can direct the differentiation of various kinds of stem/progenitor cells to β-like cells in vitro. Here, we will summarize different strategies used by researchers to investigate the therapeutic potentials of miRNAs, with focus on miR-375, for curing diabetes through β-cell regeneration or replacement.
微小 RNA 是一类非编码 RNA，可在转录后水平调节靶基因的表达。微小 RNA 在调节胰腺发育、β细胞质量维持和β细胞功能涉及的不同基因的表达中发挥重要作用。参与β细胞功能的微小 RNA 水平的改变导致糖尿病。作为一种流行疾病，糖尿病威胁着数以百万计的患者的生命，迫切需要解决这一问题。然而，目前可用的疗法并不能实质性地治愈糖尿病流行。因此，研究人员正在试图寻找新的方法来补充糖尿病患者的β细胞质量。一种有前途的方法是β细胞质量的体内再生或提高β细胞功能的效率。另一种临床策略是体外培养β样细胞的移植。由于微小 RNA 在胰腺β细胞发育、维持、功能中的作用及其在糖尿病中的参与，不同微小 RNA 的过表达或衰减可导致体内β细胞再生，或可指导各种干细胞/祖细胞向体外β样细胞的分化。在这里，我们将总结研究人员用于研究微小 RNA 治疗潜力的不同策略，重点关注 miR-375，通过β细胞再生或替代来治疗糖尿病。
