Identification and characteristics of microRNAs in rat abdominal aortic aneurysms

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a lethal disease, occurring mostly in men more than 65 years of age. Until recently, the pathogenesis of AAA remains poorly understood. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a novel class of endogenous small noncoding RNAs that play important roles in diverse biological and pathological processes and was more recently investigated in cardiovascular physiology and pathology. In this study, we employed microarray to detect and compare miRNA expressions of AAAs in rats. Four miRNAs were validated using real time RT-PCR. Functional annotations of putative targets of deregulated miRNAs via bioinformatics approaches revealed that predicted targets were highly enriched and involved in several signaling pathways important for AAA formation. Our results indicate that miRNAs are extensively involved in rat AAA formation and provide a global view of AAA miRNA profiles, which is expected to provide new clues to develop targeted therapies against this calamitous disease.腹主动脉瘤（Abdominal aortic aneurysm, AAA）是一种致命性疾病，多发于65岁以上的男性群体。直至近年，其发病机制仍未被充分阐明。微小RNA（MicroRNAs, miRNAs）是一类新型内源性非编码小RNA，在多种生物及病理过程中发挥关键调控作用，近年在心血管生理与病理领域受到广泛关注。本研究采用微阵列（microarray）技术检测并对比了大鼠腹主动脉瘤组织中的微小RNA表达谱，通过实时荧光定量逆转录聚合酶链反应（real time RT-PCR）验证了4种差异表达的微小RNA。通过生物信息学方法对差异表达微小RNA的潜在靶基因进行功能注释后发现，预测得到的靶基因显著富集于多条与腹主动脉瘤形成密切相关的信号通路中。本研究结果表明，微小RNA广泛参与大鼠腹主动脉瘤的发生发展过程，并提供了大鼠腹主动脉瘤的微小RNA表达全景图谱，有望为针对这一致命性疾病的靶向治疗策略研发提供全新思路。