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Association of MicroRNA-146a with Autoimmune Diseases

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Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a group of approximately 20–22-nucleotide-long non-coding RNAs that repress target gene expression through mRNA degradation and translation inhibition. MiRNA (miR)-146a, located in the second exon of the LOC285628 gene on human chromosome 5, is a negative regulator in immune and inflammatory responses. Studies have indicated that miR-146a is associated with the pathogenesis of several autoimmune diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, and Sjögren’s syndrome. In this review, emphasis will be laid on the recent progress in the functional roles of miR-146a in these autoimmune diseases.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was partly supported by grants from the key program of National Natural Science Foundation of China 30830089 and 81172764.

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Correspondence to Dong-Qing Ye.

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Wang-Dong Xu and Man-Man Lu contributed equally to this work and should be considered co-first authors.

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Xu, WD., Lu, MM., Pan, HF. et al. Association of MicroRNA-146a with Autoimmune Diseases. Inflammation 35, 1525–1529 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10753-012-9467-0

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