Ingrid Fomison-Nurse and Rajesh Katare
Ischaemic heart disease is an increasingly prevalent disease in the developed world, and accounts for a large degree of both morbidity and mortality in many countries. Diabetes Mellitus is also increasing in prevalence and as ischaemic heart disease is associated with Diabetes Mellitus, diabetic cardiomyopathy is an increasing problem globally. MicroRNAs are short, non-coding RNAs which negatively regulate gene expression through either translational repression or mRNA cleavage. These are found to exist in a stable form in both tissue and blood, and are specific to the tissue of origin. Cardiovascular miRNAs have been found to play roles in cardiac arrhythmogenesis, hypertrophy, and cardiac stem cell differentiation, as well as showing considerable links with diabetic cardiomyopathy. This interaction is important when considering the therapeutic potential of cardiovascular miRNAs, with possible therapeutic value in the treatment of vascular dysfunction, as well as the development of biomarkers for the early diagnosis and therefore treatment of the disease.