Circulating miRNAs as biomarkers for early diagnosis of coronary artery disease

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Coronary artery disease (CAD) contributes to a huge number of human death worldwide. The early diagnosis can arrest the development of CAD and effectively lower the mortality rate. Recently, circulating miRNAs emerged as CAD biomarkers.

Area covered: Many efforts were paid to explore early diagnostic biomarkers of CAD. Some proteins have been used as diagnostic golden standard. However, the diagnostic and prognostic value of them is limited. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), a class of small noncoding RNAs, have been illustrated to regulate gene expression. The dysfunction of miRNAs is associated with CAD. MiRNAs presenting stably in body fluids are called circulating miRNAs. The altered expression of specific circulating miRNAs has been discovered in CAD and reported to affect the pathogenesis of CAD. We reviewed the recent data about circulating miRNAs regarding their potential roles in diagnosis, prognosis and therapeutic strategies for CAD. Additionally, we also summarized the current knowledge about circulating miRNA formation and detection.

Expert opinion: Compared with traditional diagnostic tools, circulating miRNAs have many strongpoints, suggesting that circulating miRNAs can serve as promising biomarkers for the early diagnosis and prognosis of CAD.

KEYWORDS:

• CAD
• diagnosis
• circulating miRNAs
• biomarkers

Article Highlights

• MicroRNAs are a class of small noncoding RNAs which can regulate gene expression.

• MiRNAs that present in serum, plasma and other body fluids are called circulating miRNAs.

• Circulating miRNAs are surprisingly stable and can be reliably separated and measured.

• The altered expression of circulating miRNAs has been illustrated to affect the development of CAD.

• Circulating miRNAs have great potential to serve as noninvasive biomarkers for CAD early diagnosis and prognosis.

• Due to the limitations and drawbacks, circulating miRNAs cannot be called a reliable diagnostic tool up till now and more efforts should be paid before the clinical utility.

This box summarizes key points contained in the article.

Authors contributions

LZ, YZ, YfZ, and YW drafted the manuscript. DH and SX revised and edited the manuscript. PL and LZ conceived the idea and framework of the review and made the final proof reading. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Declaration of interest

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by funding from the Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (No. ZR2016CQ23).