MicroRNAs in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, new research progress and their pathophysiological implication

ABSTRACT

Many studies have shown that microRNAs (miRNAs) play important roles in the development of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). The purpose of this review is to systematically summarize the recent advance of miRNAs in the pathology of IPF, highlighting the new research progress and their pathophysiological implication. Recent studies have shown that miRNAs differentially expressed in blood and lung tissue from IPF patients are closely related to the occurrence of IPF disease, which may be IPF diagnostic markers and prognostic indicators. Furthermore, studies have shown that miRNAs are involved in the pathological mechanisms of IPF, including the lung epithelial repair, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), fibroblast activation, myofibroblast differentiation, macrophage polarization, alveolar epithelial cells (AEC) senescence and collagen production. In this review, the regulation mechanisms of miRNAs in IPF pathology, such as the long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) in miRNA expression, the cross-talk among miRNAs, and the mutual effect of miRNA and DNA methylation, are also systematically reviewed. According to the recent studies of miRNAs in the pathology of IPF, miRNAs play important roles in the pathogenesis of IPF, and miRNAs involved in IPF pathology are helpful to elucidate the pathogenesis of IPF and the treatment of this disease.

KEYWORDS:

• microRNA
• idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
• alveolar epithelial cells
• epithelial-mesenchymal transition
• long noncoding RNAs

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest

No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed.

Additional information

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81302783), Research Project of Anhui Science and Technology University (No. ZRC2014473), Academic and Technical Leader candidates of Anhui Science and Technology University.