Regulatory Potential of Non-Coding RNAs Colocalized with Cardiomyopathy-Related Genes

Abstract

Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) play an important role in the regulation of the activity of genes essential for the development and function of the cardiovascular system. Intragenic ncRNAs have been shown to be coordinately regulated and/or expressed with their host genes, including ncRNAs resided within cardiomyopathy (CMP)-related genes. This review summarizes the results of CMP-related intragenic ncRNA studies in the function of the healthy heart and in the development of different forms of CMPs. CMP-related intragenic ncRNAs such as miRNAs (miR-1, miR-133a, miR-208a, miR-208b, miR-324, miR-490, miR-499a) and long ncRNAs (MHRT, TTN-AS1 and KCNQ1OT1) are actively involved in research. It has been established that the level of these of ncRNAs in myocardium is characterized by developmental-stage-specific dynamics, gender-specific and chamber-specific patterns. These ncRNAs exhibit differential expression in myocardium/serum of humans and model animals under the influence of exogenous and endogenous factors. The expression levels of these ncRNAs in the myocardium/serum is associated with clinical features during the development and progression of CMPs. The change in the level of ncRNAs preceding clinical manifestation of CMPs have been reported. The possibility to arrest the development of CMPs and even the restoration of the normal phenotype by controlling the levels of these regulatory molecules indicate their involvement in the pathogenesis of the disease. miRNAs and long ncRNAs, whose genes resided within CMP-related genes, are involved in various metabolic processes that are important for the heart function, including their involvement in epigenetic processes.