Abstract
Vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) is the second most common type of dementia that accounts for 15 to 30%. To date, VCI still lacks an effective therapeutic strategy and an objective diagnostic tool. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small non-coding RNAs that control gene expression at the post-translational level, playing an essential role in the pathogenesis of VCI. Moreover, accumulating evidence has indicated that miRNAs could be used as therapeutic strategies and diagnostic biomarkers of diseases. In this review, we summarize various mechanisms of miRNA-based therapeutics and candidate miRNAs for clinical diagnosis in VCI. Results showed that miRNAs participate in VCI via different mechanisms, including neuronal death, inflammation, oxidative stress, blood-brain barrier permeability, and synaptic translation. Circulating miRNAs of VCI have been detected in serum, plasma, and cerebrospinal fluid with various diagnostic power. Taking together, miRNAs are a potential biomarker for being a therapeutic agent and a diagnostic tool of VCI.
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Abbreviations
- VCI:
-
Vascular cognitive impairment
- VaD:
-
Vascular dementia
- PSCI:
-
Post-stroke cognitive impairment
- AD:
-
Alzheimer’s disease
- PSCN:
-
Post-stroke cognitive normality
- CCH:
-
Chronic cerebral hypoperfusion
- BCAO:
-
Bilateral carotid artery occlusion
- BCAS:
-
Bilateral carotid artery stenosis
- MCAO:
-
Middle cerebral artery occlusion
- ICH:
-
Intracerebral hemorrhage
- miRNAs:
-
MicroRNAs
- I/R:
-
Ischemic and refusion
- MCAO/R:
-
MCAO and refusion
- LC-3:
-
Protein 1 light chain 3
- LAMP2:
-
Lysosomal-associated membrane protein-2
- TLR4:
-
Toll-like receptor 4
- PGC-1α:
-
Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1-alpha
- MDA:
-
Malondialdehyde
- Drp1:
-
Dynamin-related protein-1
- pDrp1:
-
Phospho-Drp1
- LTP:
-
Long-term potentiation
- LTD:
-
Long-term depression
- Nav1.1 and Nav1.2:
-
Voltage-gated sodium channel alpha subunit 1 and 2
- MeCP2:
-
Methyl cytidine-phosphate-guanosine binding protein 2
- NF-L:
-
Neurofilament light
- NMDA:
-
N-methyl-D-aspartate
- NR1:
-
NMDA receptor 1
- TRIM2:
-
Tripartite motif 2
- BBB:
-
Blood-brain barrier
- TJ:
-
Tight junction
- ZO-1:
-
Tight-junction protein 1
- MMP-9:
-
Matrix metalloproteinase-9
- ET-1:
-
Enthothelin-1
- CSF:
-
Cerebrospinal fluid
- MoCA:
-
Montreal Cognitive Assessment
- ROC:
-
Receiver operating characteristic
- AUC:
-
Area under curve
- HUVEC:
-
Human umbilical vein endothelial cells
- NOR:
-
Novel object recognition
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Funding
This study was supported by the Scientific Research Projects of Shanghai Municipal Health Bureau in China, No.201940031(to XB), and the Leading Personnel Training Project of Shanghai Pudong New District Municipal Health Bureau in China, No. PWR1201804 (to XB).
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Yuan, M., Bi, X. Therapeutic and Diagnostic Potential of microRNAs in Vascular Cognitive Impairment. J Mol Neurosci 70, 1619–1628 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12031-020-01597-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12031-020-01597-6