MicroRNAs, Regulatory Networks, and Comorbidities: Decoding Complex Systems

Methods Mol Biol. 2017:1580:281-295. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-6866-4_19.

Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNAs involved in the posttranscriptional regulation of messenger RNAs (mRNAs). Each miRNA targets a specific set of mRNAs. Upon binding the miRNA inhibits mRNA translation or facilitate mRNA degradation. miRNAs are frequently deregulated in several pathologies including cancer and cardiovascular diseases. Since miRNAs have a crucial role in fine-tuning the expression of their targets, they have been proposed as biomarkers of disease progression and prognostication.In this chapter we discuss different approaches for computational predictions of miRNA targets based on sequence complementarity and integration of expression data. In the last section of the chapter we discuss new opportunities in the study of miRNA regulatory networks in the context of temporal disease progression and comorbidities.

Keywords: Comorbidities; Data integration; Regulatory network; Systems biology; Target prediction; microRNA.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cardiovascular Diseases / genetics
  • Comorbidity
  • Gene Regulatory Networks*
  • Genomics / methods*
  • Humans
  • MicroRNAs / genetics*
  • Neoplasms / genetics
  • RNA, Messenger / genetics*
  • Software
  • Systems Biology / methods
  • Transcriptome

Substances

  • MicroRNAs
  • RNA, Messenger