title: Characteristics of microRNAs and their potential relevance for the diagnosis and therapy of the acute respiratory distress syndrome: from bench to bedside.
abstract: Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a complex disease associated with high morbidity and mortality. Biomarkers and specific pharmacologic treatment of the syndrome are lacking. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small (∼ 19-22 nucleotides) noncoding RNA molecules whose function is the regulation of gene expression. Their uncommon biochemical characteristics (eg, their resistance to degradation because of extreme temperature and pH fluctuations, freeze-thaw cycles, long storage times in frozen conditions, and RNAse digestion) and their presence in a wide range of different biological fluids and the relatively low number of individual miRNAs make these molecules good biomarkers in different clinical conditions. In addition, miRNAs are suitable therapeutic targets as their expression can be modulated by different available strategies. The aim of the present review is to offer clinicians a global perspective of miRNA, covering their structure and nomenclature, biogenesis, effects on gene expression, regulation of expression, and features as disease biomarkers and therapeutic targets, with special attention to ARDS. Because of the early stage of research on miRNAs applied to ARDS, attention has been focused on how knowledge sourced from basic and translational research could inspire future clinical studies.
authors.affiliation: Emergency Department, Hospital Universitario HM Sanchinarro, Madrid, Spain. Electronic address: pablocardinal@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cardinal-Fernández
authors.affiliation: Hospital Universitario de Getafe, Madrid, Spain; CIBER de Enfermedades Respiratorias, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ferruelo
authors.affiliation: Hospital Universitario de Getafe, Madrid, Spain; CIBER de Enfermedades Respiratorias, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Andrés
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Esteban
authors.affiliation: Hospital Universitario de Getafe, Madrid, Spain; CIBER de Enfermedades Respiratorias, Madrid, Spain; Universidad Europea, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: José A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Lorente
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006801:Humans; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D012128:Respiratory Distress Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D057170:Translational Research, Biomedical
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D035683:MicroRNAs