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
. 2020 Aug 21:13:160.
doi: 10.3389/fnmol.2020.00160. eCollection 2020.

MicroRNAs in Alzheimer's Disease: Function and Potential Applications as Diagnostic Biomarkers

Wei Wei  1   2 , Zhi-Yong Wang  2 , Li-Na Ma  2 , Ting-Ting Zhang  1   2 , Yu Cao  2 , Hao Li  2
Affiliations
Review

MicroRNAs in Alzheimer's Disease: Function and Potential Applications as Diagnostic Biomarkers

Wei Wei et al. Front Mol Neurosci. .

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia. Although the incidence of AD is high, the rates of diagnosis and treatment are relatively low. Moreover, effective means for the diagnosis and treatment of AD are still lacking. MicroRNAs (miRNAs, miRs) are non-coding RNAs that play regulatory roles by targeting mRNAs. The expression of miRNAs is conserved, temporal, and tissue-specific. Impairment of microRNA function is closely related to AD pathogenesis, including the beta-amyloid and tau hallmarks of AD, and there is evidence that the expression of some microRNAs differs significantly between healthy people and AD patients. These properties of miRNAs endow them with potential diagnostic and therapeutic value in the treatment of this debilitating disease. This review provides comprehensive information about the regulatory function of miRNAs in AD, as well as potential applications as diagnostic biomarkers.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; biomarker; diagnosis; microRNAs; pathogenesis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are involved in Aβ metabolism. Amyloid precursor protein (APP) is a type I integral inner membrane-localized protein. Under normal conditions, APP is hydrolyzed by α-secretase to produce the neuroprotective soluble external functional fragments (sAPP), P3 and the APP intracellular domain (AICD) (no plaque formation); in contrast, β-secretase-mediated APP hydrolysis generates plaque-forming Aβ, which is neurotoxic. The γ-secretase enzyme is crucial for both secretase pathways.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
MiRNAs play a role to diagnose AD.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Akhter R., Shao Y., Shaw M., Formica S., Khrestian M., Leverenz J. B., et al. (2018). Regulation of ADAM10 by miR-140-5p and potential relevance for Alzheimer’s disease. Neurobiol. Aging 63 110–119. 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2017.11.007 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Alonso A. D., Cohen L. S., Corbo C., Morozova V., ElIdrissi A., Phillips G., et al. (2018). Hyperphosphorylation of tau associates with changes in its function beyond microtubule stability. Front. Cell. Neurosci. 12:338. 10.3389/fncel.2018.00338 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ameres S. L., Zamore P. D. (2013). Diversifying microRNA sequence and function. Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 14 475–488. 10.1038/nrm3611 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Arena A., Iyer A. M., Milenkovic I., Kovacs G. G., Ferrer I., Perluigi M., et al. (2017). Developmental expression and dysregulation of miR-146a and miR-155 in down’s syndrome and mouse models of down’s syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease. Curr. Alzheimer Res. 14 1305–1317. 10.2174/1567205014666170706112701 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Augustin R., Endres K., Reinhardt S., Kuhn P.-H., Lichtenthaler S. F., Hansen J., et al. (2012). Computational identification and experimental validation of microRNAs binding to the Alzheimer-related gene ADAM10. BMC Med. Genet. 13:35. 10.1186/1471-2350-13-35 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources