Rol de RNA no codificantes en el remodelado vascular

COLL-BONFILL N; MUSRI MM.; BARBERÀ JA; DE LA CRUZ-THEA B; MEISTER G

Buenos Aires

Jornada; XVIII Jornadas Multidisciplinarias de SAB; 2016

Vascular remodeling consists in the excessive accumulation of dedifferentiated smooth muscle cells (SMC) in the intima of arteries and arterioles. This process is central to a number of vascular diseases such as arteriosclerosis, pulmonary hypertension and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases. In contrast to other cells, differentiated SMC retain high plasticity in response to environmental cues. After an injury, differentiated/contractile SMC undergo phenotypic modulation to a proliferative/dedifferentiated phenotype, which is tightly regulated by different molecular pathways. In the last decade, it has become evident that noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) control cell biology in physiological and pathological states. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small RNAs that post-transcriptionally inhibit expression of target genes. We analyzed the expression profile of miRNAs in highly remodeled pulmonary arteries compared to control arteries. We found that a number of miRNAs are dysregulated in SMC during pulmonary vascular remodeling. This alteration is linked to defects in SMC homeostasis by controlling genes related to cell cycle. Another less studied small RNAs are the YRNAs. Very little is known about these molecules and their mechanism of action. We have analyzed the function of YRNAs during in vitro SMC differentiation and found that hY3 regulates SMC phenotypic switch. In the presentation, a short summary of our results will be discussed.