Regulating the Regulators: microRNA and Asthma

Autor: Jia-wang Wang, PhD, Kunyu Li, BS, Gary Hellermann, PhD, Richard F. Lockey, MD, Subhra Mohapatra, PhD, Shyam Mohapatra, PhD
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2011
Předmět:
Zdroj: World Allergy Organization Journal, Vol 4, Iss 6, Pp 94-103 (2011)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1939-4551
DOI: 10.1186/1939-4551-4-6-94
Popis: One obstacle to developing an effective therapeutic strategy to treat or prevent asthma is that the fundamental causes of asthma are not totally understood. Asthma is thought to be a chronic TH2 immune-mediated inflammatory disease. Epigenetic changes are recognized to play a role in the initiation and maintenance of a TH2 response. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are key epigenetic regulators of gene expression, and their expression is highly regulated, therefore, deregulation of miRNAs may play an important role in the pathogenesis of asthma. Profiling circulating miRNA might provide the highest specificity and sensitivity to diagnose asthma; similarly, correcting potential defects in the miRNA regulation network may lead to new therapeutic modalities to treat this disease. Keywords: microRNA, circulating, epigenetics, asthma, biomarkers
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals