MicroRNAs, the immune system and rheumatic disease.

2008

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been implicated in the pathogenesis of rheumatic disease and are, therefore, a potential target for drug development. This Review describes the well-established roles of miRNAs in hematopoiesis and the immune response, the molecular action of miRNAs in the simultaneous post-transcriptional regulation of multiple targets, and the evidence for roles of specific miRNAs in rheumatic disease. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short noncoding RNA molecules that modulate the expression of multiple target genes at the post-transcriptional level and are implicated in a wide array of cellular and developmental processes. In hematopoietic cells, miRNA levels are dynamically regulated duri…