Laboratory of Biological Chemistry, Medical School, Faculty of Health Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
First Department of Cardiology, Medical School, Faculty of Health Sciences, AHEPA University Hospital, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Heart Fail Rev. 2022 Jan;27(1):281-294. doi: 10.1007/s10741-021-10084-y. Epub 2021 Mar 3.
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNA molecules that act as major regulators of gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. As the potential applications of miRNAs in the diagnosis and treatment of human diseases have become more evident, many studies of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) have focused on the systemic identification and quantification of miRNAs in biofluids and myocardial tissues. HCM is a hereditary cardiomyopathy caused by mutations in genes encoding proteins of the sarcomere. Despite overall improvements in survival, progression to heart failure, stroke, and sudden cardiac death remain prominent features of living with HCM. Several miRNAs have been shown to be promising biomarkers of HCM; however, there are many challenges to ensuring the validity, consistency, and reproducibility of these biomarkers for clinical use. In particular, miRNA testing may be limited by pre-analytical and analytical caveats, making our interpretation of results challenging. Such factors that may affect miRNA testing include sample type selection, hemolysis, platelet activation, and renal dysfunction. Therefore, researchers should be careful when developing appropriate standards for the design of miRNA profiling studies in order to ensure that all results provided are both accurate and reliable. In this review, we discuss the application of miRNAs as biomarkers for HCM.
微小 RNA(miRNAs)是一种小的非编码 RNA 分子,作为基因表达在转录后水平的主要调控因子。由于 miRNAs 在人类疾病的诊断和治疗中的潜在应用变得越来越明显,许多肥厚型心肌病(HCM)的研究都集中在生物流体和心肌组织中 miRNA 的系统识别和定量上。HCM 是一种遗传性心肌病,由编码肌节蛋白的基因突变引起。尽管总体生存率有所提高,但进展为心力衰竭、中风和心源性猝死仍然是 HCM 患者的突出特征。已经有几种 miRNA 被证明是 HCM 的有前途的生物标志物;然而,要确保这些生物标志物用于临床的有效性、一致性和可重复性仍然存在许多挑战。特别是,miRNA 检测可能受到分析前和分析上的限制,这使得我们对结果的解释具有挑战性。可能影响 miRNA 检测的因素包括样本类型选择、溶血、血小板激活和肾功能障碍。因此,研究人员在制定 miRNA 图谱研究的设计适当标准时应谨慎,以确保提供的所有结果既准确又可靠。在这篇综述中,我们讨论了将 miRNAs 作为 HCM 生物标志物的应用。