MicroRNAs in Vascular and Metabolic Disease

Recent findings demonstrated the importance of microRNAs (miRNAs) in the vasculature and the orchestration of lipid metabolism and glucose homeostasis. MiRNA networks represent an additional layer of regulation for gene expression that absorbs perturbations and ensures the robustness of biological systems. This function is very elegantly demonstrated in cholesterol metabolism where miRNAs reducing cellular cholesterol export are embedded in the very same genes that increase cholesterol synthesis. Often their alteration does not affect normal development but changes under stress conditions and in disease. A detailed understanding of the molecular and cellular mechanisms of miRNA-mediated effects on metabolism and vascular pathophysiology could pave the way for the development of novel diagnostic markers and therapeutic approaches. In the first part of this review, we summarize the role of miRNAs in vascular and metabolic diseases and explore potential confounding effects by platelet miRNAs in preclinical models of cardiovascular disease. In the second part, we discuss experimental strategies for miRNA target identification and the challenges in attributing miRNA effects to specific cell types and single targets.