Roles of Microrna in Vascular Diseases in Cardiac and Pulmonary Systems.

Coronary artery disease (CAD) and pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) are two of the most dangerous vascular diseases. Their etiology and pathogenesis are not yet fully understood, thus it remains difficult to achive great advance in the diagnose, therapy and prognosis techniques. microRNAs (miRNAs), a class of highly conserved, small, noncoding RNAs, critically mediate the post-transcriptional gene modulation, which regulates an array of important physiopathological processes including those occurring in cardiac and pulmonary systems. Thereby manipulation of miRNA expression could potentially be applied therapeutically. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge on the roles of miRNAs in the development of vascular diseases, especially in CAD and PAH, providing a theoretical basis for potential uses of miRNA in diagnosis, prognosis, and therapy in these cardiovascular diseases.