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Review
. 2020 Aug 7:7:181.
doi: 10.3389/fmolb.2020.00181. eCollection 2020.

Fecal MicroRNAs as Potential Biomarkers for Screening and Diagnosis of Intestinal Diseases

Humaira Rashid  1 , Biplob Hossain  1 , Towfida Siddiqua  2 , Mamun Kabir  1 , Zannatun Noor  1 , Mamun Ahmed  3 , Rashidul Haque  1
Affiliations
Review

Fecal MicroRNAs as Potential Biomarkers for Screening and Diagnosis of Intestinal Diseases

Humaira Rashid et al. Front Mol Biosci. .

Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of conserved endogenous, small non-coding RNA molecules with a length of 18-25 nucleotides that regulate gene expression by RNA interference processes, including mRNA chopping, mRNA deadenylation, and translation inhibition. miRNAs maintain the physiological functions of the intestine and are instrumental in gut pathogenesis. miRNAs play an important role in intercellular communication and are present in all body fluids, including stools with different composition and concentrations. However, under diseased conditions, miRNAs are aberrantly expressed and act as negative regulators of gene expression. The stable and differentially expressed miRNAs in stool enables miRNAs to be used as potential biomarkers for screening of various intestinal diseases. In this review, we summarize the expressed miRNA profile in stool and highlight miRNAs as biomarkers with potential clinical and diagnostic applications, and we aim to address the prospects for recent advanced techniques for screening miRNA in diagnosis and prognosis of intestinal disorders.

Keywords: colorectal cancer; dPCR; fecal miRNA; inflammatory bowel disease; intestinal barrier dysfunction; microarray; qPCR.

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Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
miRNA biogenesis and mode of action. The biogenesis of microRNAs begins in the nucleus where RNA polymerase II transcribes miR genes, generating a primary miRNA (pri-miRNA), which is subsequently cleaved by Drosha (RNase III endonuclease), resulting in a precursor miRNA (pre-miRNA) (Wan et al., 2016). The pre-miRNA is cleaved by the cytoplasmic endonuclease Dicer forming a duplex miRNA complex (O’Brien et al., 2018). The mature miRNA interacts with mRNA and induces the nuclease activity of RISC, thereby triggering translational repression or mRNA degradation.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Schematic diagram represents the potential role of miRNA expression in intestinal diseases. The miRNA network plays a critical role in regulating gene expression in health and disease. miRNAs are essential regulators of inflammation. Post intestinal barrier damage, persistent inflammatory conditions can change the expression of microRNA, initiating or developing IBD. When IBD persists for a long period of time, the chronic dysregulation of miRNAs targets transcripts that encode intestinal barrier components and tumor-suppressor miRNAs, and this can lead in the disease development from IBD to CRC.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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