title: Newer insights into the role of miRNA a tiny genetic tool in psychiatric disorders: focus on post-traumatic stress disorder.
abstract: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder occurring in about 2-9% of individuals after their exposure to life-threatening events, such as severe accidents, sexual abuse, combat or a natural catastrophe. Because PTSD patients are exposed to trauma, it is likely that epigenetic modifications have an important role in disease development and prognosis. For the past two decades, abnormal expression of the epigenetic regulators microRNAs (miRs) and miR-mediated gene regulation have been given importance in a variety of human diseases, such as cancer, heart disease and viral infection. Emerging evidence supports a role for miR dysregulation in psychiatric and neurological disorders, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, anxiety, major depressive disorder, autism spectrum disorder and Tourette's syndrome. Recently mounting of evidence supports the role of miR both in preclinical and clinical settings of psychiatric disorders. Abnormalities in miR expression can fine-tune the expression of multiple genes within a biological network, suggesting that miR dysregulation may underlie many of the molecular changes observed in PTSD pathogenesis. This provides strong evidence that miR not only has a critical role in PTSD pathogenesis, but can also open up new avenues for the development of diagnostic tools and therapeutic targets for the PTSD phenotype. In this review, we revisit some of the recent evidence associated with miR and PTSD in preclinical and clinical settings. We also discuss the possible clinical applications and future use of miRs in PTSD therapy.
authors.affiliation: Translational Psychiatry Program, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, McGovern Medical School, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), Houston, TX, USA.
authors.forename: V V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Giridharan
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, Centre for Cardiovascular Regeneration, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, TX, USA.
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Thandavarayan
authors.affiliation: Translational Psychiatry Program, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, McGovern Medical School, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), Houston, TX, USA.
authors.forename: G R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Fries
authors.affiliation: Translational Psychiatry Program, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, McGovern Medical School, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), Houston, TX, USA.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Walss-Bass
authors.affiliation: Translational Psychiatry Program, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, McGovern Medical School, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), Houston, TX, USA.|Center of Excellence on Mood Disorders, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, McGovern Medical School, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), Houston, TX, USA.|Neuroscience Graduate Program, The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston, Houston, TX, USA.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Barichello
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Graduate Program, The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston, Houston, TX, USA.|Center for Metabolic and Degenerative Diseases, Institute of Molecular Medicine, The University of Texas Health Sciences Center, Houston, TX, USA.
authors.forename: N J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Justice
authors.affiliation: Clinical and Translational Research Program on Traumatic Stress, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Mc Govern Medical School, Houston, TX, USA.|Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI, USA.
authors.forename: M K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Reddy
authors.affiliation: Translational Psychiatry Program, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, McGovern Medical School, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), Houston, TX, USA.|Center of Excellence on Mood Disorders, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, McGovern Medical School, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), Houston, TX, USA.|Neuroscience Graduate Program, The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston, Houston, TX, USA.|Laboratory of Neurosciences, Graduate Program in Health Sciences, Health Sciences Unit, University of Southern Santa Catarina (UNESC), Criciúma, Brazil.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Quevedo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003130:Combat Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics / Q000628:therapy; D016207:Cytokines / Q000378:metabolism; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics*; D051381:Rats; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000628:therapy; D014728:Veterans / Q000523:psychology
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines; D035683:MicroRNAs