title: Regulation and function of miRNA-21 in health and disease.
abstract: The small regulatory RNA microRNA-21 (miR-21) plays a crucial role in a plethora of biological functions and diseases including development, cancer, cardiovascular diseases and inflammation. The gene coding for pri-miR-21 (primary transcript containing miR-21) is located within the intronic region of the TMEM49 gene. Despite pri-miR-21 and TMEM49 are overlapping genes in the same direction of transcription, pri-miR-21 is independently transcribed by its own promoter regions and terminated with its own poly(A) tail. After transcription, primiR- 21 is finally processed into mature miR-21. Expression of miR-21 has been found to be deregulated in almost all types of cancers and therefore was classified as an oncomiR. During recent years, additional roles of miR-21 in cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases, including cardiac and pulmonary fibrosis as well as myocardial infarction have been described. MiR-21 additionally regulates various immunological and developmental processes. Due to the critical functions of its target proteins in various signaling pathways, miR-21 has become an attractive target for genetic and pharmacological modulation in various disease conditions.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular and Translational Therapeutic Strategies (IMTTS), Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Regalla
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kumarswamy
authors.forename: Ingo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Volkmann
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Thum
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D058750:Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition / Q000235:genetics*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006801:Humans; D007107:Immune System / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000235:genetics; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D011658:Pulmonary Fibrosis / Q000235:genetics*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: C524940:MIRN21 microRNA, human; D035683:MicroRNAs