Author(s):
Lozano-Velasco, Estefania ; Inácio, José Manuel ; Sousa, Inês ; Guimarães, Ana Rita ; Franco, Diego ; Moura, Gabriela ; A. Belo, José
Date: 2024
Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10362/163916
Origin: Repositório Institucional da UNL
Subject(s): bioinformatic tools; cardiovascular diseases; heart development; miRNA; Catalysis; Molecular Biology; Spectroscopy; Computer Science Applications; Physical and Theoretical Chemistry; Organic Chemistry; Inorganic Chemistry; SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
Description
Funding Information: This work was supported by funds from the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (NETDIAMOND-SAICTPAC/0047/2015), iNOVA4Health-UID/Multi/04462/2020, and LS4FUTURE Associated Laboratory (LA/P/0087/2020) to J.A.B. and funds from the Scientific Employment Stimulus to J.M.I. (Norma Transitória 8189/2018). This work was also support by grants from the Ministry of Education and Science of the Spanish Government to D.F. (PID2022-138163OB-C32) and by a grant-in-aid (CTS-446) of the Junta de Andalucia Regional Council. G.M. was funded by FEDER funds (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-022184), CENTRO 2020 (CENTRO-01-0246-FEDER-000018; CENTRO-08-5864-FSE-000039), and by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (UIDP/04501/2020; 2022.01376.PTDC). Publisher Copyright: © 2024 by the authors.
Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are a group of disorders that affect the heart and blood vessels. They include conditions such as myocardial infarction, coronary artery disease, heart failure, arrhythmia, and congenital heart defects. CVDs are the leading cause of death worldwide. Therefore, new medical interventions that aim to prevent, treat, or manage CVDs are of prime importance. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression at the posttranscriptional level and play important roles in various biological processes, including cardiac development, function, and disease. Moreover, miRNAs can also act as biomarkers and therapeutic targets. In order to identify and characterize miRNAs and their target genes, scientists take advantage of computational tools such as bioinformatic algorithms, which can also assist in analyzing miRNA expression profiles, functions, and interactions in different cardiac conditions. Indeed, the combination of miRNA research and bioinformatic algorithms has opened new avenues for understanding and treating CVDs. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge on the roles of miRNAs in cardiac development and CVDs, discuss the challenges and opportunities, and provide some examples of recent bioinformatics for miRNA research in cardiovascular biology and medicine.
