The Pax protein Eyegone (Eyg) interacts with the pi-RNA component Aubergine (Aub) and controls egg chamber development in Drosophila

Novel roles of PIWI proteins and PIWI-interacting RNAs in human health and diseases

Non-coding RNA has aroused great research interest recently, they play a wide range of biological functions, such as regulating cell cycle, cell proliferation, and intracellular substance metabolism. Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) are emerging small non-coding RNAs that are 24-31 nucleotides in length. Previous studies on piRNAs were mainly limited to evaluating the binding to the PIWI protein family to play the biological role. However, recent studies have shed more lights on piRNA functions; aberrant piRNAs play unique roles in many human diseases, including diverse lethal cancers. Therefore, understanding the mechanism of piRNAs expression and the specific functional roles of piRNAs in human diseases is crucial for developing its clinical applications. Presently, research on piRNAs mainly focuses on their cancer-specific functions but lacks investigation of their expressions and epigenetic modifications. This review discusses piRNA's biogenesis and functional roles and the recent progress of functions of piRNA/PIWI protein complexes in human diseases. Video Abstract.

The Role of microRNAs in Arsenic-Induced Human Diseases: A Review

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are noncoding RNAs with 20-22 nucleotides, which are encoded by endogenous genes and are capable of targeting the majority of human mRNAs. Arsenic is regarded as a human carcinogen, which can lead to many adverse health effects including diabetes, skin lesions, kidney disease, neurological impairment, male reproductive injury, and cardiovascular disease (CVD) such as cardiac arrhythmias, ischemic heart failure, and endothelial dysfunction. miRNAs can act as tumor suppressors and oncogenes via directly targeting oncogenes or tumor suppressors. Recently, miRNA dysregulation was considered to be an important mechanism of arsenic-induced human diseases and a potential biomarker to predict the diseases caused by arsenic exposure. Endogenic miRNAs such as miR-21, the miR-200 family, miR-155, and the let-7 family are involved in arsenic-induced human disease by inducing translational repression or RNA degradation and influencing multiple pathways, including mTOR/Arg 1, HIF-1α/VEGF, AKT, c-Myc, MAPK, Wnt, and PI3K pathways. Additionally, exogenous miRNAs derived from plants, such as miR-34a, miR-159, miR-2911, miR-159a, miR-156c, miR-168, etc., among others, can be transported from blood to specific tissue/organ systems in vivo. These exogenous miRNAs might be critical players in the treatment of human diseases by regulating host gene expression. This review summarizes the regulatory mechanisms of miRNAs in arsenic-induced human diseases, including cancers, CVD, and other human diseases. These special miRNAs could serve as potential biomarkers in the management and treatment of human diseases linked to arsenic exposure. Finally, the protective action of exogenous miRNAs, including antitumor, anti-inflammatory, anti-CVD, antioxidant stress, and antivirus are described.

The role of microRNAs in neurodegenerative diseases: a review

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are non-coding RNAs which are essential post-transcriptional gene regulators in various neuronal degenerative diseases and playact a key role in these physiological progresses. Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, multiple sclerosis, and, stroke, are seriously threats to the life and health of all human health and life kind. Recently, various studies have reported that some various miRNAs can regulate the development of neurodegenerative diseases as well as act as biomarkers to predict these neuronal diseases conditions. Endogenic miRNAs such as miR-9, the miR-29 family, miR-15, and the miR-34 family are generally dysregulated in animal and cell models. They are involved in regulating the physiological and biochemical processes in the nervous system by targeting regulating different molecular targets and influencing a variety of pathways. Additionally, exogenous miRNAs derived from homologous plants and defined as botanmin, such as miR2911 and miR168, can be taken up and transferred by other species to be and then act analogously to endogenic miRNAs to regulate the physiological and biochemical processes. This review summarizes the mechanism and principle of miRNAs in the treatment of some neurodegenerative diseases, as well as discusses several types of miRNAs which were the most commonly reported in diseases. These miRNAs could serve as a study provided some potential biomarkers in neurodegenerative diseases might be an ideal and/or therapeutic targets for neurodegenerative diseases. Finally, the role accounted of the prospective exogenous miRNAs involved in mammalian diseases is described.