Role of MicroRNAs in Human Diseases

Dear Colleagues,

MicroRNAs are an abundant class of short non-coding RNAs. MicroRNAs regulate gene expression predominantly at the posttranscriptional stage by interacting with partially complementary binding sites on the 3′ UTR of mRNAs of their target genes. Through this mode of regulation and via coordinated interactions with multiple target genes, many miRNAs have been etiologically and mechanistically linked to a variety of human diseases. More than 1900 entries of short non-coding RNA sequences have been registered with miRBase.org for the human genome. Furthermore, 546 of these entries have been curated as bona fide microRNA genes as per mirgenedb.org.

The human miRNome has distinct evolutionary origins; some human microRNAs are conserved in all animals (bilateria), whereas other human microRNAs have more recent origins being specific to eutheria (placental animals), primates, or even restricted to only humans. The evolutionary origin of some miRNAs provides clues of their role in human development, physiology, and pathological processes. Similarly, the tissue- and cell type-specific expression (e.g., muscle cells, neurons, hepatocytes) of some miRNAs offers clues of their biological activity and regulatory networks.

This Special Issue will provide a comprehensive update on the latest findings of human disease–associated miRNAs, with a focus on the clinical application of miRNAs as biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis, treatment prediction, and miRNA-based therapeutic strategies. Given the broad implication of microRNAs in human diseases, we expect this Special Issue to cover different human diseases from cancer to cardiovascular disease to neurological conditions and degenerative diseases.

We welcome both original research papers and review articles that describe advances in deciphering the etiological and epidemiological links of microRNAs to human diseases, detection methodology and bioinformatics approaches to uncover miRNA signatures, fundamental biology and molecular approaches to determine the mechanistic details of miRNA contribution to human diseases, and diagnostic and therapeutic development to apply this knowledge for the treatment of human diseases in first-in-human clinical trials.

Dr. Lorenzo F. Sempere
Guest Editor

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• microRNAs, miRNAs, miRs
• preclinical models
• target interaction, regulatory networks
• oncology, cancer biology
• cardiovascular disease
• neurodegenerative conditions
• diagnostic applications
• therapeutic development and clinical trials