MicroRNAs in Coronary Heart Disease: Ready to Enter the Clinical Arena?

Figure 1

MicroRNAs biogenesis and function. In the nucleus, DNA is transcribed into pri-miRNA and then cleaved by Drosha to produce pre-miRNA in the canonical microRNA biogenesis pathway. Noncanonical biogenesis pathways exist. Pre-miRNA is then moved in the cytoplasm by Exportin-5 where another RNase III, Dicer cleaves it into a microRNA duplex, to finally obtain a single stranded microRNA. The microRNA can exercise his action internally or in a cell-to-cell interaction, through convergent or divergent microRNA pathways. Circulating microRNAs are usually associated with lipoprotein, protein, exosome, and microvesicles. See text for further details. Ago-2: Argonaute protein 2; miRNA: microRNA; mRNA: messenger RNA.