title: The function of miRNA in cardiac hypertrophy.
abstract: Cardiac hypertrophy is an adaptive enlargement of the myocardium in response to altered stress or injury. The cellular responses of cardiomyocytes and non-cardiomyocytes to various signaling pathways should be tightly and delicately regulated to maintain cardiac homeostasis and prevent pathological cardiac hypertrophy. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous, single-stranded, short non-coding RNAs that  act as regulators of gene expression by promoting the degradation or inhibiting the translation of target mRNAs. Recent studies have revealed expression signatures of miRNAs associated with pathological cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure in humans and mouse models of heart diseases. Increasing evidence indicates that dysregulation of specific miRNAs could alter the cellular responses of cardiomyocytes and non-cardiomyocytes to specific signaling upon the pathological hemodynamic overload, leading to cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure. This review summarizes the cell-autonomous functions of cardiomyocyte miRNAs regulated by different pathways and the roles of non-cardiomyocyte miRNAs in cardiac hypertrophy. The therapeutic effects of a number of miRNAs in heart diseases are also discussed.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Proteomics, Genetic Laboratory of Development and Disease, Institute of Biotechnology, 20 Dongdajie, 100071 Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism; D006332:Cardiomegaly / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000378:metabolism*; D016328:NF-kappa B / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics; D013963:Thyroid Hormones / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs; D016328:NF-kappa B; D013963:Thyroid Hormones; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I; D002118:Calcium