Role of microRNA and lncRNA in lens development and cataract formation

Abstract

Both microRNA (miRNA) and long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) fall within the category of noncoding RNA. MiRNA is a 20-24 nt long, highly conserved, single-stranded noncoding RNA. MiRNA can specifically bind to the 3' untranslated region of target mRNA, induce the transcript degradation or translation inhibition, and eventually impact the biological functions of the cell, such as proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis. Whereas lncRNA is an over 200 bp long, single-stranded, noncoding RNA, which can regulate the important biological processes, such as cell division, growth, differentiation and apoptosis. Research has demonstrated that the abnormal expression of miRNA or lncRNA may result in disruption of normal lens development, apoptosis of lens epithelial cells, disarrangement of lens fibrocytes and treduced lens transparency, thereby causing cataract. This review summarizes the effects and the mechanisms of 7 miRNAs (miR-184, miR-204, let-7, miR-29, miR-16, miR-125b, miR-34a) and 2 lncRNAs (lncRNA-MIAT, LOXL1-AS1) during lens development and cataract formation, in the hope that it could provide insights for the novel interventional and therapeutic targets to cataract. (Chin J Ophthalmol, 2018, 54: 390-395).