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Abstract
miRNAs are short non-coding RNAs that control post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. They are found ubiquitously in tissue and body fluids and participate in the pathogenesis of many diseases. Due to these characteristics and their stability, miRNAs could serve as biomarkers of different pathologies of the kidney. Urine is a non-invasive reservoir of molecules, especially indicative of the urinary system. In this review, we focus on urinary miRNAs and their potential to serve as biomarkers in kidney disease. Past studies show that urinary miRNAs correlate with renal dysfunctions and with processes involved in the pathophysiology. However, these studies also stress the need for future research focusing on large-scale studies to confirm the usability of urinary miRNAs as diagnostic and/or prognostic markers of different kidney diseases in clinical practice.
Acknowledgements
T Papadopoulos was supported by ‘Clinical and system – omics for the identification of the Molecular Determinants of established Chronic Kidney Disease’ (iMODE-CKD, PEOPLE-ITN-GA-2013–608332) and JP Schanstra was supported by Biomarkers of renal graft injuries in kidney allograft recipients (Biomargin, FP7-HEALTH-2012-INNOVATION-1-305499).
Financial & competing interests disclosure
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.
No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.
miRNAs are short (20–23 nucleotides length), non-coding, endogenous, single-stranded RNA molecules that inhibit protein synthesis of protein-coding genes.
miRNAs are produced in all cells and can be found in almost all body fluids, either free or bound to proteins, microvesicles, exosomes and apoptotic bodies.
The involvement of miRNAs in a large variety of biological functions combined with their great stability potentially makes them suitable molecules for diagnosis, prognosis and monitoring of disease.
Urine is a biofluid which is collected non-invasively and might be a valuable source of miRNA-based biomarkers of kidney disease in addition to a source for other molecules of kidney disease, including proteins, peptides and metabolites.
Although the reports on urinary miRNA and kidney disease are limited, the available information both in the literature and obtained using a specific computational pathway analysis carried out for the review suggest that urinary miRNAs reflect on-going known disease processes in the kidney and hence can potentially serve as non-invasive biomarkers of kidney disease.
The majority of the urinary miRNAs were linked to one of the hallmarks of kidney disease which is fibrosis.
Future research should focus on large-scale studies to confirm the usability of urinary miRNAs as diagnostic and/or prognostic markers of different kidney diseases.