microRNA regulation of inflammatory responses

RM O'Connell, DS Rao… - Annual review of …, 2012 - annualreviews.org
RM O'Connell, DS Rao, D Baltimore
Annual review of immunology, 2012annualreviews.org
The mammalian inflammatory response is a rapid and complex physiological reaction to
noxious stimuli including microbial pathogens. Although inflammation plays a valuable role
in combating infection, its dysregulation often occurs in people and can cause a variety of
pathologies, ranging from chronic inflammation, to autoimmunity, to cancer. In recent years,
our understanding of both the cellular and molecular networks that regulate inflammation
has improved dramatically. Although much of the focus has been on the study of protein …
The mammalian inflammatory response is a rapid and complex physiological reaction to noxious stimuli including microbial pathogens. Although inflammation plays a valuable role in combating infection, its dysregulation often occurs in people and can cause a variety of pathologies, ranging from chronic inflammation, to autoimmunity, to cancer. In recent years, our understanding of both the cellular and molecular networks that regulate inflammation has improved dramatically. Although much of the focus has been on the study of protein regulators of inflammation, recent evidence also points to a critical role for a specific class of noncoding RNAs, called microRNAs (miRNAs), in managing certain features of the inflammatory process. In this review, we discuss recent advances in our understanding of miRNAs and their connection to inflammatory responses. Additionally, we consider the link between perturbations in miRNA levels and the onset of human inflammatory diseases.
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