Review focus on the role of microRNA in cardiovascular biology and disease

See Reviews in this series by Dangwal et al. ,8 Zampetaki et al. ,9 Da Costa Martins and De Windt,11 Tijsen et al. ,13 Shantikumar et al. ,14 McDonald et al. ,15 Schroen and Heymans,16 and Jakob and Landmesser.17 Original articles in this series are by Diehl et al. ,10 Han et al. ,12 Ruan et al. ,19 and van Mil et al .20 MicroRNAs (miRNAs; miR) are emerging therapeutic targets in a broad range of diseases, including cardiovascular disease. There are many programmes at the international level currently investigating the suitability of miRNA therapeutics for clinical purposes, and these new developments may potentially result in a novel armada of more powerful and mechanism-oriented therapeutics. It is now well accepted that miRNAs represent critical regulators of cardiovascular function.1,2 Initial reports about the role of miRNAs in cardiovascular development3 and disease4 have stimulated tremendous interest, resulting in a substantial gain of knowledge about miRNAs in the cardiovascular system. This almost unprecedented speed of development can probably be explained by the direct translational impact of miRNA research: the suitability of miRNAs to serve as potential prognostic biomarkers1,5 and as therapeutic targets6,7 for cardiovascular disease is intriguing and justifies our initial excitement about non-coding RNAs. This review …