MicroRNA and vascular smooth muscle cell phenotype: new therapy for atherosclerosis?
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Correspondence: Chunxiang Zhang zhangc3@umdnj.edu
RNA and Cardiovascular Research Laboratory, Department of Anesthesiology, New Jersey Medical School, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark, NJ 07101, USA
Genome Medicine 2009, 1:85 doi:10.1186/gm85
Published: 9 September 2009Abstract
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) represent a class of small, non-coding RNAs that negatively regulate gene expression via degradation or translational inhibition of their target mRNAs. Recent studies have identified that miR-145 is the most abundant miRNA in normal arteries and vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs), and its expression is significantly downregulated in dediffer-entiated VSMCs and atherosclerotic arteries. miR-145 plays a critical role in modulating VSMC phenotype. Because phenotypic modulation of VSMCs is an initial cellular event in the development of atherosclerosis, miRNAs, and miR-145 in particular, may represent new therapeutic targets for atherosclerosis.