Regulation and function of miRNA-21 in health and disease
Top Cited Papers
Open Access
- 1 September 2011
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Taylor & Francis Ltd in RNA Biology
- Vol. 8 (5), 706-713
- https://doi.org/10.4161/rna.8.5.16154
Abstract
The small regulatory RNA microRNA-21 (miR-21) plays a crucial role in a plethora of biological functions and diseases including development, cancer, cardiovascular diseases and inflammation. The gene coding for pri-miR-21 (primary transcript containing miR-21) is located within the intronic region of the TMEM49 gene. Despite pri-miR-21 and TMEM49 are overlapping genes in the same direction of transcription, pri-miR-21 is independently transcribed by its own promoter regions and terminated with its own poly(A) tail. After transcription, primiR-21 is finally processed into mature miR-21. Expression of miR-21 has been found to be deregulated in almost all types of cancers and therefore was classified as an oncomiR. During recent years, additional roles of miR-21 in cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases, including cardiac and pulmonary fibrosis as well as myocardial infarction have been described. miR-21 additionally regulates various immunological and developmental processes. Due to the critical functions of its target proteins in various signaling pathways, miR-21 has become an attractive target for genetic and pharmacological modulation in various disease conditions.Keywords
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