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Review
. 2021 Jul;122(7):696-715.
doi: 10.1002/jcb.29896. Epub 2021 Feb 2.

The role of miR-29 family in disease

Masahiro Horita  1 , Colin Farquharson  1 , Louise A Stephen  1
Affiliations
Review

The role of miR-29 family in disease

Masahiro Horita et al. J Cell Biochem. 2021 Jul.

Abstract

MicroRNAs are small noncoding RNAs that can bind to the target sites in the 3'-untranslated region of messenger RNA to regulate posttranscriptional gene expression. Increasing evidence has identified the miR-29 family, consisting of miR-29a, miR-29b-1, miR-29b-2, and miR-29c, as key regulators of a number of biological processes. Moreover, their abnormal expression contributes to the etiology of numerous diseases. In the current review, we aimed to summarize the differential expression patterns and functional roles of the miR-29 family in the etiology of diseases including osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, cardiorenal, and immune disease. Furthermore, we highlight the therapeutic potential of targeting members of miR-29 family in these diseases. We present miR-29s as promoters of osteoblast differentiation and apoptosis but suppressors of chondrogenic and osteoclast differentiation, fibrosis, and T cell differentiation, with clear avenues for therapeutic manipulation. Further research will be crucial to identify the precise mechanism of miR-29 family in these diseases and their full potential in therapeutics.

Keywords: cardiorenal disease; immune disease; miRNA-29; microRNA; osteoarthritis; osteoporosis.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there are no conflict of interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Maturation and function of microRNA (miRNA) and mature sequences of miR‐29s. (A) miRNA is transcribed by RNA polymerase II to generate a primary miRNA (pri‐miRNA), which is cleaved in Dorsha and DGCR8 to generate the precursor miRNA (pre‐miRNA). Pre‐miRNA is exported to the cytoplasm and then cleaved by Dicer to generate a miRNA duplex containing mature miRNA. The duplex unwinds and the mature miRNA assembles into RISC. Mature miRNA mediates gene silencing by guiding AGO2 proteins to target sites in the 3ʹ‐UTR of mRNA. (B) miR‐29 family members have identical seeding regions (blue box and underlined). Tri‐uracil nucleotide at positions 9‐11 exist in miR‐29b and miR‐29c (red box). Nuclear localization sequence at positions 18‐23 is unique to miR‐29b (green box). 3ʹ‐UTR, 3ʹ‐untranslated region; mRNA, messenger RNA
Figure 2
Figure 2
Target genes of miR‐29s in the mechanisms of cell differentiation, fibrosis, and apoptosis. The illustration describes the reported target genes of miR‐29s involved in chondrogenic differentiation, osteoblast differentiation, osteoclast differentiation, fibrosis, apoptosis, and T cell differentiation
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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