MicroRNA Regulation and its Biological Significance in Personalized Medicine and Aging

The recent explosion of research on the role of noncoding RNAs (ncRNA) in the control of gene expression has revealed multifaceted implications concerning the regulation of numerous mammalian systems, ranging from determination of cell fate during development to maintenance of terminally differentiated states. Among the various types of ncRNA, microRNAs are probably the best known group; their functional impact in signaling pathways controls normal processes regulating apoptosis, cell cycle traverse, differentiation, cytoskeletal organization, etc. at the post-transcriptional level, by either degrading their target genes’ messages through binding at the coding region, or inhibiting translation at the 3’-untranslated region. Not surprisingly, dysregulation of microRNA expression has been linked to the pathogenesis of a variety of diseases, among which cancer, cardiovascular disorders, and neurodegeneration have proven fertile grounds for investigation.