Taming endothelial activation with a microRNA

Inflammation plays an essential role in vascular pathologies, including those associated with sepsis and atherosclerosis. Identifying negative regulators of inflammatory signaling pathways may provide novel therapeutic targets for these diseases. In this issue of the JCI, Sun et al. show that in endothelial cells, microRNA-181b (miR-181b) plays a vital role in controlling inflammation by targeting importin-alpha 3, a regulator of NF-kappa B nuclear import. These findings provide compelling evidence that modulation of microRNAs may be a useful therapeutic approach for inflammatory vascular diseases.