Role of microRNAs in Obesity-Related Kidney Disease

Abstract

Obesity is a major global health problem and is associated with a significant risk of renal function decline. Obesity-related nephropathy, as one of the complications of obesity, is characterized by a structural and functional damage of the kidney and represents one of the important contributors to the morbidity and mortality worldwide. Despite increasing data linking hyperlipidemia and lipotoxicity to kidney injury, the apprehension of molecular mechanisms leading to a development of kidney damage is scarce. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenously produced small noncoding RNA molecules with an important function in post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. miRNAs have been demonstrated to be important regulators of a vast array of physiological and pathological processes in many organs, kidney being one of them. In this review, we present an overview of miRNAs, focusing on their functional role in the pathogenesis of obesity-associated renal pathologies. We explain novel findings regarding miRNA-mediated signaling in obesity-related nephropathies and highlight advantages and future perspectives of the therapeutic application of miRNAs in renal diseases.

Pro-Inflammatory Profile of Adipokines in Obesity Contributes to Pathogenesis, Nutritional Disorders, and Cardiovascular Risk in Chronic Kidney Disease

“…Research is underway to discover new biomarkers of kidney damage. One of them is micro-RNA, which can be measured in the blood [ 41 ]. The indirect effect of CKD development is related to hypertension, atherosclerosis, and diabetes type 2 [ 35 ].…”

Extracellular Vesicles in Redox Signaling and Metabolic Regulation in Chronic Kidney Disease

“…The EVs contain and transfer a wide range of nucleic acids, among which mRNA, miRNAs, and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are the most common [ 40 , 41 , 42 ]. miRNAs are short non-coding, single-stranded RNA molecules with an average of 22 nucleotides in length and have the particularity to be highly conserved sequences between species [ 41 ].…”

“…The EVs contain and transfer a wide range of nucleic acids, among which mRNA, miRNAs, and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are the most common [ 40 , 41 , 42 ]. miRNAs are short non-coding, single-stranded RNA molecules with an average of 22 nucleotides in length and have the particularity to be highly conserved sequences between species [ 41 ]. miRNAs play a key role in reprogramming the recipient cells through regulation of gene expression via the post-transcriptional processing control of mRNA, transcriptional gene activation, or silencing [ 41 ].…”

“…miRNAs are short non-coding, single-stranded RNA molecules with an average of 22 nucleotides in length and have the particularity to be highly conserved sequences between species [ 41 ]. miRNAs play a key role in reprogramming the recipient cells through regulation of gene expression via the post-transcriptional processing control of mRNA, transcriptional gene activation, or silencing [ 41 ]. These mechanisms of regulation of gene expression modulate metabolic pathways and induce physiological responses, but also activate pathophysiological signaling pathways [ 41 , 43 ].…”

“…miRNAs play a key role in reprogramming the recipient cells through regulation of gene expression via the post-transcriptional processing control of mRNA, transcriptional gene activation, or silencing [ 41 ]. These mechanisms of regulation of gene expression modulate metabolic pathways and induce physiological responses, but also activate pathophysiological signaling pathways [ 41 , 43 ]. In fact, recent studies provide evidence that shows crosstalk between miRNAs and components of redox signaling through the modulation of genes related to the formation and removal of ROS [ 44 ].…”