MicroRNAs in vascular biology and vascular disease

Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have emerged as a novel class of endogenous, small, non-coding RNAs that negatively regulate over 30% of genes in a cell via degradation or translational inhibition of their target mRNAs. Functionally, an individual miRNA is important as a transcription factor because it is able to regulate the expression of its multiple target genes. Recent studies have identified that miRNAs are highly expressed in vasculature and their expression is deregulated in diseased vessels. miRNAs are found to be critical modulators for vascular cell functions such as cell differentiation, migration, proliferation, and apoptosis. Accordingly, miRNAs are involved in the angiogenesis and in the pathogenesis of vascular diseases. miRNAs may serve as novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets for vascular disease. This review article summarizes the research progress regarding the roles of miRNAs in vascular biology and vascular disease.

Fig. 1

Regulation of vascular smooth muscle cell functions by miR-143 and miR-145. miR-143 and miR-145 are two abundant miRNAs in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). Kruppel-like factor 5 (KLF5), Kruppel-like factor 4 (KLF4), myocardin, and calmodulin kinase IIdelta (CamkIIδ) are found to be the target genes of miR-145, whereas Elk-1 is a target gene of miR-143 within VSMCs. In addition, angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) is target gene for both miR-143 and miR-145. These targets are able to regulate VSMC cell differentiation, proliferation, and contraction directly or indirectly via interaction with serum response factor (SRF)