Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2013 Dec 19:7:265.
doi: 10.3389/fncel.2013.00265.

The involvement of microRNAs in neurodegenerative diseases

Simona Maciotta  1 , Mirella Meregalli  2 , Yvan Torrente  2
Affiliations
Review

The involvement of microRNAs in neurodegenerative diseases

Simona Maciotta et al. Front Cell Neurosci. .

Abstract

Neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs) originate from a loss of neurons in the central nervous system and are severely debilitating. The incidence of NDDs increases with age, and they are expected to become more common due to extended life expectancy. Because no cure is available, these diseases have become a major challenge in neurobiology. The increasing relevance of microRNAs (miRNAs) in biology has prompted investigation into their possible involvement in neurodegeneration in order to identify new therapeutic targets. The idea of using miRNAs as therapeutic targets is not far from realization, but important issues need to be addressed before moving into the clinics. Here, we review what is known about the involvement of miRNAs in the pathogenesis of NDDs. We also report the miRNA expression levels in peripheral tissues of patients affected by NDDs in order to evaluate their application as biomarkers of disease. Finally, discrepancies, innovations, and the effectiveness of collected data will be elucidated and discussed.

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease; Huntington's disease; Parkinson's disease; amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; biomarker; microRNA; neurodegenerative diseases.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Advantages and drawbacks of a miRNA-based therapy for the treatment of NDDs.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Absalon S., Kochanek D. M., Raghavan V., Krichevsky A. M. (2013). MiR-26b, upregulated in Alzheimer's disease, activates cell cycle entry, tau-phosphorylation, and apoptosis in postmitotic neurons. J. Neurosci. 33, 14645–14659 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1327-13.2013 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Al-Chalabi A., Andersen P. M., Nilsson P., Chioza B., Andersson J. L., Russ C., et al. (1999). Deletions of the heavy neurofilament subunit tail in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Hum. Mol. Genet. 8, 157–164 10.1093/hmg/8.2.157 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Alexis F., Pridgen E., Molnar L. K., Farokhzad O. C. (2008). Factors affecting the clearance and biodistribution of polymeric nanoparticles. Mol. Pharm. 5, 505–515 10.1021/mp800051m - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Allen T. A., Von Kaenel S., Goodrich J. A., Kugel J. F. (2004). The SINE-encoded mouse B2 RNA represses mRNA transcription in response to heat shock. Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol. 11, 816–821 10.1038/nsmb813 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Alvarez-Erviti L., Seow Y., Yin H., Betts C., Lakhal S., Wood M. J. (2011). Delivery of siRNA to the mouse brain by systemic injection of targeted exosomes. Nat. Biotechnol. 29, 341–345 10.1038/nbt.1807 - DOI - PubMed