MicroRNAs in acute pancreatitis: From pathogenesis to novel diagnosis and therapy

Abstract

Acute pancreatitis (AP) is an inflammatory disorder initiated by activation of pancreatic zymogens, leading to pancreatic injury and systemic inflammatory response. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have emerged as important regulators of gene expression and key players in human physiological and pathological processes. Discoveries over the past decade have confirmed that altered expression of miRNAs is implicated in the pathogenesis of AP. Indeed, a number of miRNAs have been found to be dysregulated in various cell types involved in AP such as acinar cells, macrophages, and lymphocytes. These aberrant miRNAs can regulate acinar cell necrosis and apoptosis, local and systemic inflammatory response, thereby contributing to the initiation and progression of AP. Moreover, patients with AP possess unique miRNA signatures when compared with healthy individuals or those with other diseases. In view of their stability and easy detection, therefore, miRNAs have the potential to act as biomarkers for the diagnosis and assessment of patients with AP. In this review, we provide an overview of the novel cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the roles of miRNAs during the disease processes of AP, as well as the potential diagnosis and therapeutic biomarkers of miRNAs in patients with AP.

CircRNA Expression Profiles and the Potential Role of CircZFP644 in Mice With Severe Acute Pancreatitis via Sponging miR-21-3p

“…Among them, miRNAs are the most widely characterized and studied. A body of evidence indicates that altered expression of miRNAs is implicated in the pathogenesis of AP in animal models and human specimens (Xiang et al, 2017;Yang et al, 2019). Furthermore, functional studies also confirm that knockdown of certain miRNAs (e.g., miR-21) can be conducive to the reduction of damage caused by SAP (Ma et al, 2015;Li et al, 2018a).…”

Circulating miR-320a as a Predictive Biomarker for Left Ventricular Remodelling in STEMI Patients Undergoing Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention

“…Therefore, identifying new sensitive biomarkers may help to improve the early prognosis of patients with a high risk of post-infarction remodelling and dysfunction of the left ventricle after PPCI. Currently, there is great interest in the potential use of microRNAs (miRNAs) as promising novel biomarkers for the diagnosis and/or prognosis of different systemic diseases [15][16][17]. miRNAs are a group of small endogenous noncoding RNAs that can degrade mRNA transcripts directly, inhibit protein translation, and regulate protein expression at the post-transcriptional level [18].…”

ATF4-mediated histone deacetylase HDAC1 promotes the progression of acute pancreatitis

“…Currently, increasing attention has been paid to basic study regarding AP, including immunomodulatory therapy and mesenchymal stem cell-based therapy 20 . Notably, implication of miRNAs in AP has been deciphered 21 . However, investigation with regard to the role of functional gene signaling pathway in AP is limited.…”