Nutrimiromics: Role of microRNAs and Nutrition in Modulating Inflammation and Chronic Diseases

Abstract

Nutrimiromics studies the influence of the diet on the modification of gene expression due to epigenetic processes related to microRNAs (miRNAs), which may affect the risk for the development of chronic diseases. miRNAs are a class of non-coding endogenous RNA molecules that are usually involved in post-transcriptional gene silencing by inducing mRNA degradation or translational repression by binding to a target messenger RNA. They can be controlled by environmental and dietary factors, particularly by isolated nutrients or bioactive compounds, indicating that diet manipulation may hold promise as a therapeutic approach in modulating the risk of chronic diseases. This review summarizes the evidence regarding the influence of nutrients and bioactive compounds on the expression of miRNAs related to inflammation and chronic disease in several models (cell culture, animal models, and human trials).

Keywords: epigenetic; inflammation; microRNA; nutrients.

Figure 1

microRNA biogenesis and cellular release mechanisms. microRNAs (miRNA) is transcribed by RNA polymerase II from miRNA genes, first forming the ‘primary miRNA transcript’ (pri-miRNA), which is then cleaved by the DROSHA/DiGeorge syndrome critical region 8 (DGCR8) microprocessor complex to form the ‘miRNA precursor’ (pre-miRNA) (letter e). Pre-miRNA is then exported from the nucleus to the cytoplasm by exportin 5 and further processed by DICER1 to originate the mature miRNA (letter d). Mature miRNA is loaded into the miRNA-induced silencing complex (miRISC), which contains Argonaute (AGO) proteins (letter b), that targets mRNA by sequence complementary binding and mediates gene suppression by targeted mRNA degradation. The cellular release mechanisms include pre-miRNA or mature miRNA associated to RNA-binding proteins (letter a), such as Ago2 or their binding to high-density lipoproteins (HDL) (letter c). Furthermore, pre-miRNA or mature miRNA can be incorporated into small vesicles called exosomes, which are extracellular vesicles of endosomal origin that have emerged as key mediators of intercellular communication.