MicroRNA-21 in the pathogenesis of acute kidney injury.

Abstract

Acute kidney injury (AKI), associated with significant morbidity and mortality, is widely known to involve epithelial apoptosis, excessive inflammation, and fibrosis in response to ischemia or reperfusion injury, which results in either chronic pathological changes or death. Therefore, it is imperative that investigations are conducted in order to find effective, early diagnoses, and therapeutic targets needed to help prevent and treat AKI. However, the mechanisms modulating the pathogenesis of AKI still remain largely undetermined. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), small non-coding RNA molecules, play an important role in several fundamental biological and pathological processes by a post transcriptional regulatory function of gene expression. MicroRNA-21 (miR-21) is a recently identified, typical miRNA that is functional as a regulator known to be involved in apoptosis as well as inflammatory and fibrotic signaling pathways in AKI. As a result, miR-21 is now considered a novel biomarker when diagnosing and treating AKI. This article reviews the correlative literature and research progress regarding the roles of miR-21 in AKI.

• Authors: Ya-Feng Li, Ying Jing, Jielu Hao, Nathan C Frankfort, Xiaoshuang Zhou, Bing Shen, Xinyan Liu, Lihua Wang, Rongshan Li
• Journal: Protein & cell (Protein Cell) Vol. 4 Issue 11 Pg. 813-9 (Nov 2013) ISSN: 1674-8018 [Electronic] Germany
• PMID: 24214874 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, N.I.H., Intramural, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't, Review)

Chemical References

• Biomarkers
• MIRN21 microRNA, human
• MicroRNAs

Topics

• Acute Kidney Injury (diagnosis, drug therapy, genetics, pathology)
• Animals
• Apoptosis
• Biomarkers (metabolism)
• Humans
• MicroRNAs (genetics, metabolism)
• Molecular Targeted Therapy