title: Regulation of microRNA by antagomirs: a new class of pharmacological antagonists for the specific regulation of gene function?
abstract: The discovery of small "noncoding" or "nonmessenger" RNA molecules that are repressors of translation (microRNAs) has provided the opportunity to specifically suppress a gene or clusters of genes. Moreover, the recent employment of synthetic analogs of these small RNA molecules termed "antagomirs" has shown that microRNAs of interest can be specifically targeted. Understanding the role of microRNAs in fundamental processes associated with complex diseases such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cancer, chronic infections, and immune disorders may aid in disease diagnosis and prognosis and potentially identify new therapeutic targets.
authors.affiliation: School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health and Hunter Medical Research Institute, University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia. Joerg.mattes@newcastle.edu.au
authors.forename: Joerg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mattes
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Paul S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Foster
mesh_terms: D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006801:Humans; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000502:physiology*; D046228:Microarray Analysis; D009154:Mutation; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs