Department of Interventional Cardiology, Institute of Cardiology, Jagiellonian University Medical College, św. Anny 12, 31-007 Kraków, Poland.
Department of Interventional Cardiology, The John Paul II Hospital, Prądnicka 80, 31-202 Kraków, Poland.
Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Dec 9;23(24):15645. doi: 10.3390/ijms232415645.
Ischemic stroke (IS) related to atherosclerosis of large arteries is one of the leading causes of mortality and disability in developed countries. Atherosclerotic internal carotid artery stenosis (ICAS) contributes to 20% of all cerebral ischemia cases. Nowadays, atherosclerosis prevention and treatment measures aim at controlling the atherosclerosis risk factors, or at the interventional (surgical or endovascular) management of mature occlusive lesions. There is a definite lack of the established circulating biomarkers which, once modulated, could prevent development of atherosclerosis, and consequently prevent the carotid-artery-related IS. Recent studies emphasize that microRNA (miRNA) are the emerging particles that could potentially play a pivotal role in this approach. There are some research studies on the association between the expression of small non-coding microRNAs with a carotid plaque development and vulnerability. However, the data remain inconsistent. In addition, all major studies on carotid atherosclerotic plaque were conducted on cell culture or animal models; very few were conducted on humans, whereas the accumulating evidence demonstrates that it cannot be automatically extrapolated to processes in humans. Therefore, this paper aims to review the current knowledge on how miRNA participate in the process of carotid plaque formation and rupture, as well as stroke occurrence. We discuss potential target miRNA that could be used as a prognostic or therapeutic tool.
缺血性脑卒中（IS）与大动脉粥样硬化有关，是发达国家死亡和残疾的主要原因之一。动脉粥样硬化性颈内动脉狭窄（ICAS）占所有脑缺血病例的 20%。如今，动脉粥样硬化的预防和治疗措施旨在控制动脉粥样硬化的危险因素，或对成熟闭塞性病变进行介入（手术或血管内）治疗。目前明确缺乏已确定的循环生物标志物，这些标志物一旦被调节，就可以预防动脉粥样硬化的发生，从而预防与颈动脉相关的 IS。最近的研究强调，微小 RNA（miRNA）是新兴的颗粒，可能在这方面发挥关键作用。有一些关于小非编码 microRNAs 的表达与颈动脉斑块形成和易损性之间的相关性的研究。然而，数据仍然不一致。此外，所有关于颈动脉粥样硬化斑块的主要研究都是在细胞培养或动物模型上进行的；很少在人类身上进行，而越来越多的证据表明，这不能自动推断为人类体内的过程。因此，本文旨在综述 miRNA 如何参与颈动脉斑块形成和破裂以及中风发生的过程的现有知识。我们讨论了潜在的 miRNA 靶点，这些靶点可以作为预后或治疗工具。
