miRNAs as biomarkers of atrial fibrillation

Abstract

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a highly prevalent arrhythmia with pronounced morbidity and mortality. Genetics analysis has established electrophysiological substrates, which determine individual vulnerability to AF occurrence and maintenance. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) found in virtually all organisms function as negative regulators of protein-coding genes. Several studies have suggested a role for miRNAs in the regulation of cardiac excitability and arrhythmogenesis. This review is based on 18 studies conducted between 2009 and 2013 to investigate the association of miRNAs with AF. miRNAs are discussed here as candidate biomarkers for AF in blood and cardiac tissues and as potential targets for AF therapy.

MicroRNA as Biomarkers and Diagnostics

“…miRNAs have been found to be critical modulators of normal heart development and cardiac function (Bernstein et al, 2003;Zampetaki and Mayr, 2012;Philippen et al, 2015). They are quantitatively altered in certain disease entities, such as myocardial infarction, atherosclerosis, coronary artery disease, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, hypertrophy, and fibrosis (Corsten et al, 2010;Fichtlscherer et al, 2010;da Silva and Silbiger, 2014). Tissue specific deletion of miRNA machinery gene Dicer in mice can cause lethal phenotypes in myocardial and vascular lineages (Chen et al, 2008a;Albinsson et al, 2010).…”

Circulating MicroRNAs as Potential Biomarkers of Atrial Fibrillation

“…In addition, multiple miRNAs have arrhythmogenic potential and different miRNAs are involved in different types of atrial fibrillation. However, the role of circulating miRNA as diagnostic biomarkers for AF is not established [8]. …”

RNAs and Gene Expression Predicting Postoperative Atrial Fibrillation in Cardiac Surgery Patients Undergoing Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting

“…Recently published literature showed that miRNAs that regulate gene expression are involved in the arrhythmogenic substrate of AF [16][17][18]. Further, experimental evidences reported the specific role of miRNAs in defining development or onset of arrhythmia and other cardiovascular disorders [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]. Several techniques have been established to compute miRNAs such as droplet digital polymerase chain reaction (PCR), quantitative stem-loop RT-PCR, chip-based digital PCR, quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) as well as RNAseq and microarrays [28][29][30].…”