Micro-RNA in Health and Disease

Micro-RNAs (miRNA) are functional, non-protein coding RNA molecules that are approximately 22 nucleotides in length and their transcriptions provided by intron or exon regions of the genome and non-protein coding regions of RNA genes. miRNAs inhibit translation of protein and destroy mRNA. Although approximately 2500 human miRNA types have been identified so far, quite little is known about their biological functions. In some studies, it is shown that miRNA expression levels are important for many biological processes such as cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, organogenesis and metabolism. Recent studies have pointed out that miRNAs have been used as diagnosis and prognosis biomarkers in many human diseases including cancer, cardiovascular disorders, cerebrovascular disorders and metabolic disturbances.