title: Circulating microRNAs as mirrors of acute coronary syndromes: MiRacle or quagMire?
abstract: Acute coronary syndrome (ACS), a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, is among the most serious cardiovascular diseases. Exploring novel approaches, which can complement and improve current strategies for ACS, is continuous. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a novel class of small, short non-coding RNA that post-transcriptionally regulate genes. The tissue- or cell-specific distribution features of miRNAs and its merit of stably existing in serum and plasma make them attractive biomarkers for ACS. An early and accurate diagnosis is the pre-requisite to facilitate rapid decision making and treatment and therefore improve outcome in ACS patients. This review highlights and summarizes recent studies using circulating miRNAs as novel biomarkers for ACS including its role in diagnosis, prediction, prognosis and reaction to therapy. In addition, we also discuss the potential function of miRNAs as extracellular communicators in cell-to-cell communication. Large multicentre studies are highly needed to pave the road for using circulating miRNAs as biomarkers for ACS from the bench to the bedside. Considering the advantageous properties and the continuously increasing number of studies, circulating miRNAs definitely have the potential to be reasonable diagnostic tools once their infancy has passed.
authors.affiliation: Regeneration Lab, School of Life Science, Shanghai University, Shanghai, China; Experimental Center of Life Sciences, Shanghai University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Jiahong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Junjie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xiao
mesh_terms: D054058:Acute Coronary Syndrome / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy; D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000097:blood* / Q000502:physiology; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000378:metabolism; D009206:Myocardium / Q000378:metabolism; D009928:Organ Specificity; D011379:Prognosis
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D035683:MicroRNAs
keywords: acute coronary syndromes; biomarker; microRNA; plasma; serum