The emerging role of miRNAs in inflammatory bowel disease: a review

CG Chapman, J Pekow - Therapeutic advances in …, 2015 - journals.sagepub.com
CG Chapman, J Pekow
Therapeutic advances in gastroenterology, 2015journals.sagepub.com
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), comprised of ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, is
believed to develop as a result of a deregulated inflammatory response to environmental
factors in genetically susceptible individuals. Despite advances in understanding the genetic
risks of IBD, associated single nucleotide polymorphisms have low penetrance, monozygotic
twin studies suggest a low concordance rate, and increasing worldwide IBD incidence leave
gaps in our understanding of IBD heritability and highlight the importance of environmental …
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), comprised of ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, is believed to develop as a result of a deregulated inflammatory response to environmental factors in genetically susceptible individuals. Despite advances in understanding the genetic risks of IBD, associated single nucleotide polymorphisms have low penetrance, monozygotic twin studies suggest a low concordance rate, and increasing worldwide IBD incidence leave gaps in our understanding of IBD heritability and highlight the importance of environmental influences. Operating at the interface between environment and heritable molecular and cellular phenotypes, microRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of endogenous, small noncoding RNAs that regulate gene expression. Studies to date have identified unique miRNA expression profile signatures in IBD and preliminary functional analyses associate these deregulated miRNAs to canonical pathways associated with IBD pathogenesis. In this review, we summarize and discuss the miRNA expression signatures associated with IBD in tissue and peripheral blood, highlight miRNAs with potential future clinical applications as diagnostic and therapeutic targets, and provide an outlook on how to develop miRNA based therapies.
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