microRNA tagged posts

Called let-7, the microRNA governs formation of the cellular memory pool and is a gift from the dawn of animal life. A team of researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has shown that a single, small strand of microRNA, or miRNA, known as let-7, governs the ability of T-cells to recognize and remember tumor cells. This cellular memory is the basis for how vaccines work. Boosting cellular memory to recognize tumors could help improve cancer therapies. The research, published recently in Nature Communications, suggests a new strategy for the next generation of cancer-fighting immunotherapies.

“Imagine that the human body is a fortress,” says Leonid Pobezinsky, associate professor of veterinary and animal sciences at UMass Amherst and the paper’s senior author, along with...

Compared with a control (left), treatment with a miR-223 mimetic (right) reduces inflammation in mouse intestine. Credit: Neudecker et al., 2017

An international team has discovered that a microRNA produced by certain white blood cells can prevent excessive inflammation in the intestine. The study, “Myeloid-derived miR-223 regulates intestinal inflammation via repression of the NLRP3 inflammasome,” shows that synthetic versions of this microRNA can reduce intestinal inflammation in mice and suggests a new therapeutic approach to treating patients with Crohn’s or ulcerative colitis.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, affects almost 2 million people in the US...

This image shows restored presence of proteins indicating myelin reformation (shown in red) in the lumbar spinal cord of a mouse treated with miR-219 mimic after injury to its central nervous system. Researchers report March 27 in Developmental Cell treatment with the micro-RNA partially repaired damaged nerves and restored limb function in mice. Credit: Cincinnati Children’s

Scientists partially re-insulated ravaged nerves in mouse models of multiple sclerosis (MS) and restored limb mobility by treating the animals with a small non-coding RNA called a microRNA...

Formation and function of microRNAs

A tiny RNA appears to play a role in producing major depression, the mental disorder that affects as many as 250 million people a year worldwide. Major depression, formally known as major depressive disorder, or MDD, brings increased risk of suicide and is reported to cause the second-most years of disability after low-back pain.

MicroRNA levels are significantly elevated in the brains of experimental rats with induced depression from corticosterone treatment, in the post-death brains of humans diagnosed with MDD and in peripheral blood serum from living patients with MDD, according to a study by led by Prof Yogesh Dwivedi, Ph.D.
This microRNA—miR-124-3p—is thus a potential therapeutic target for novel drug development, and it can serve as a putative bio...