MicroRNA-92a: The Administrator of Certain Diseases

Zhiyuan Sun,Yingjie Yang,Xiaoyi Tian,Xuewen Tian,Qing Xu,Qinglu Wang

doi:10.3844/ajbbsp.2020.235.243

Abstract

MicroRNA-92a (miR-92a) is an evolutionarily conserved noncoding small RNA that can regulate gene expression after transcription. Previous studies have found that miR-92a is overexpressed in many tumors and can regulate numerous tumor suppressor genes negatively, with relevant effects on the development of different tumors, by regulating the DUSP10/c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), phosphatase and tensin homologs (PTEN)/AKT, Wnt and EP4/Notch1 signaling axes. MiR-92a also promotes the proliferation and migration of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) through the Rho-associated coiled-coil-forming kinase/myosin light chain kinase signaling pathway and inhibits VSMC apoptosis through the MKK4/JNK signaling pathway. Moreover, miR-92a affects endothelial functions; mediates endothelial dysfunction in chronic kidney diseases; mediates THBS1 inhibition; promotes the migration, proliferation and angiogenesis of neighboring endothelial cells (ECs); mediates the Nrf2/KEAP1/ARE signaling pathway to regulate vascular endothelial aging; and is involved in immune responses to activate ECs. This review summarizes the potential role and pathogenic mechanism of the miR-92a gene in certain diseases to provide possible new treatment options.

Highlights

MicroRNAs are small (19-24 nt) singlestranded noncoding RNAs that regulate messenger RNA translation and stability by binding to the 3'Untranslated Region (UTR) of target genes (Sun and Lai, 2013; Ameres and Zamore, 2013)
Given that the JNK1 pathway is involved in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) apoptosis induced by oxidative stress (Tchivilev et al, 2008) and MKK4 and JNK1 are identified as target genes for miR-92a, the present study uses a luciferase reporter assay to show that miR-92a regulates the expression of MKK4 by targeting its 3'UTR (Lai et al, 2013)
Given that miRNAs are stable in tumor tissues and plasma, miR-92a is expected to make a breakthrough in early tumor diagnosis and tumor gene therapy research

Summary

Introduction

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small (19-24 nt) singlestranded noncoding RNAs that regulate messenger RNA (mRNA) translation and stability by binding to the 3'Untranslated Region (UTR) of target genes (Sun and Lai, 2013; Ameres and Zamore, 2013). The miR-92a/DUSP10/JNK signaling pathway plays an important role in regulating the proliferation of pancreatic cancer cells (He et al, 2014) (Fig. 1). PTEN promotes OS proliferation, inhibits apoptosis and facilitates transfer in NPC by regulating the expression and phosphorylation of the aforementioned proteins (Xiao et al, 2017; Lu et al, 2017).

Results

Conclusion