Microribonucleic acids as potential markers in cardiovascular diseases

Abstract

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are one of the most common causes of death in the developed as well as in the developing world. Despite improvements in primary prevention, the prevalence of CVD has continued to rise in recent years. Thus, the issues of molecular pathophysiology of CVD and search for new biomarkers related to early and reliable prevention and diagnosis of these diseases still hold relevance today. New genomic techniques provide innovative tools to solve this problem. A research of the current scientific literature clearly indicates that among transcriptomic biomarkers, micro-ribonucleic acids (miRNAs) are the most promising. The microRNAs (miRNAs) are small (~22 nucleotides) non-coding RNAs which regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level via inhibition of the translation of messenger RNA (mRNA) or by inducing the degradation of specific miRNAs. The lack of consensus regarding methodologies used for miRNA quantification is one of the main limiting factors in the application of these transcripts. Various studies have proposed the use of circulating miRNAs as biological markers of the acute coronary syndrome, coronary artery disease, heart failure, arrhythmias, myocardial infarction, etc. MiRNAs are involved in many cellular processes such as proliferation, vasculogenesis, apoptosis, cell growth and differentiation, and tumorigenesis.This review considers the most fully studied and clinically significant miRNAs, which physiological role makes them potential biomarkers for various CVDs.