Emerging role of microRNAs in ischemic stroke with comorbidities

Ischemic stroke is one of the major causes of global disability and death. Comorbidities in stroke are not only risk factors for an increased incidence of stroke, but also adversely impact stroke outcome. Stroke patients with co-morbidities have worse deficit, long term disability and high mortality rate and extended hospitalization stay. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are noncoding RNA molecules, and are emerging as key molecular mediators of ischemic stroke and other diseases. Thus, focusing on the treatment of stroke and its comorbidities with miRNAs appears to be particularly important. In this review article, we provide an overview of the common comorbidities of hypertension, diabetes mellitus (DM) and hyperlipidemia in ischemic stroke. We also discuss specific miRNAs, including miR-126, miR-223, and miR-124 which are important in regulating ischemic stroke and describetheir effects as related to stroke and comorbidities. In addition, we provide an overview of roles of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and circular RNAs (circRNAs) in stroke with comorbidities.