The novel regulatory role of lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA axis in cardiovascular diseases

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are RNAs longer than 200 nt in length that are characterized by low levels of sequence conservation and expression; lncRNAs modulate various biological functions at epigenetic, transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels, or directly regulate protein activity. As a family of small and evolutionarily conserved noncoding RNAs, microRNAs (miRNAs) are capable of regulating physiological and pathological processes via inhibiting target mRNA translation or promoting mRNA degradation. A number of studies have confirmed that both lncRNAs and miRNAs are closely associated with the development of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), such as cardiac remodelling, heart failure, myocardial injury and arrhythmia, and that they act as biomarkers, potential therapeutic targets or strong indicators of prognosis; however, the underlying molecular mechanism has not been elucidated. Recently, emerging evidence showed that the novel regulatory mechanism underlying the crosstalk among lncRNAs, miRNAs and mRNAs plays a pivotal role in the pathophysiological processes of CVDs in response to stress stimuli. In this review, I comprehensively summarized the regulatory relationship of lncRNAs, miRNAs and mRNAs and highlighted the important role of the lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA axis in CVDs.