Open AccessRole of microRNAs in Lung Development and Pulmonary Diseases
Author(s) -
Sessa Roberto,
Hata Akiko
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
pulmonary circulation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.791
H-Index - 40
ISSN - 2045-8940
DOI - 10.4103/2045-8932.114758
Subject(s) - microrna , medicine , pulmonary fibrosis , pulmonary hypertension , lung , bioinformatics , disease , gene , computational biology , pathology , biology , genetics
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small noncoding RNA which exert post‐transcriptional gene regulation activity by targeting messenger RNAs. miRNAs have been found to be involved in various fundamental biological processes and deregulation of miRNAs is known to result in pathological conditions. In this review, we provide an overview of recent discoveries on the role played by this class of molecules in lung development and in pulmonary diseases, such as asthma, cystic fibrosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and pulmonary artery hypertension. Considering the relevant role of these miRNAs under physiological and pathological conditions, they represent new clinical targets as well as diagnostic and prognostic tools. Therefore, this review pays special attention to recent advances and possible future directions for the use of miRNAs for clinical applications.