Role of MicroRNA in Visceral Pain

Abstract

The long-lasting nociceptive transmission under various visceral pain conditions involves transcriptional and/or translational alteration in neurotransmitter and receptor expression as well as modification of neuronal function, morphology and synaptic connections. Although it is largely unknown how such changes in posttranscriptional expression induce visceral pain, recent evidence strongly suggests an important role for microRNAs (miRNAs, small non-coding RNAs) in the cellular plasticity underlying chronic visceral pain. MicroRNAs are small noncoding RNA endogenously produced in our body and act as a major regulator of gene expression by either through cleavage or translational repression of the target gene. This regulation is essential for the normal physiological function but when disturbed can result in pathological conditions. Usually one miRNA has multiple targets and target mRNAs are regulated in a combinatorial fashion by multiple miRNAs. In recent years, many studies have been performed to delineate the posttranscriptional regulatory role of miRNAs in different tissues under various nociceptive stimuli. In this review, we intend to discuss the recent development in miRNA research with special emphases on miRNAs and their targets responsible for long term sensitization in chronic pain conditions. In addition, we review miRNAs expression and function data for different animal pain models and also the recent progress in research on miRNA-based therapeutic targets for the treatment of chronic pain.

Stress-Induced Chronic Visceral Pain of Gastrointestinal Origin

“…While modifications to chromatin, such as acetylation or methylation of histones, are the most studied epigenetic mechanisms, modification of the DNA bases leading to enhanced or repressed transcription also influence overall gene expression (Bernstein et al, 2007 ). The definition of epigenetics has been expanded to include regulatory RNA sequences (microRNA [miRNA] or small non-coding RNA) due to their ability to affect mRNA translation (Farh et al, 2005 ; Zhang and Banerjee, 2015 ). While epigenetic mechanisms have been identified in some chronic neuropathic or inflammatory pain disorders, epigenetic regulation of chronic visceral pain is still an emerging field of research interest (Greenwood-Van Meerveld et al, 2016 ; Ligon et al, 2016 ).…”

Targeting Epigenetic Mechanisms for Chronic Pain: A Valid Approach for the Development of Novel Therapeutics

“…There have also been some recent insights into the role that miRNAs play in experimental visceral pain models of chronic cystitis and esophageal reflux disease, with several miRNAs identified in the development of chronic visceral pain (Sengupta et al, 2013;Zhang and Banerjee, 2015). However, evidence directly linking these miRNAs to visceral pain behaviors is currently lacking.…”

Identification of the Spinal Expression Profile of Non-coding RNAs Involved in Neuropathic Pain Following Spared Nerve Injury by Sequence Analysis

“…It has been speculated that these ncRNAs are emerging key regulators of gene expression under physiological and pathological conditions (Wang and Chang, 2011; Yang et al, 2014; Li et al, 2016). Moreover, emerging data have shown that ncRNAs are of crucial importance in various types of pain, particularly NP (Chen et al, 2014; Shao et al, 2015; Zhang and Banerjee, 2015; Wang et al, 2016). However, the regulatory functions of ncRNAs in NP and their underlying functional mechanisms have not been systematically described.…”