Oliveira ECS, Quaglio AEV, Grillo TG, Di Stasi LC, Sassaki LY. MicroRNAs in inflammatory bowel disease: What do we know and what can we expect? World J Gastroenterol 2024; 30(16): 2184-2190 [PMID: 38690020 DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v30.i16.2184]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Ligia Yukie Sassaki, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Medical School, São Paulo State University (Unesp), Av Professor Montenegro-Distrito de Rubião Junior, Botucatu 18618-686, São Paulo, Brazil. ligia.sassaki@unesp.br
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Editorial
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastroenterol. Apr 28, 2024; 30(16): 2184-2190 Published online Apr 28, 2024. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v30.i16.2184
MicroRNAs in inflammatory bowel disease: What do we know and what can we expect?
Ellen Cristina Souza de Oliveira, Ana Elisa Valencise Quaglio, Thais Gagno Grillo, Luiz Claudio Di Stasi, Ligia Yukie Sassaki
Ellen Cristina Souza de Oliveira, Thais Gagno Grillo, Ligia Yukie Sassaki, Department of Internal Medicine, Medical School, São Paulo State University (Unesp), Botucatu 18618-686, São Paulo, Brazil
Ana Elisa Valencise Quaglio, Verum Ingredients, Botucatu Technology Park, Botucatu 18605-525, São Paulo, Brazil
Luiz Claudio Di Stasi, Department of Biophysics and Pharmacology, Institute of Biosciences, São Paulo State University (Unesp), Botucatu 18618-689, São Paulo, Brazil
Author contributions: de Oliveira ECS, Quaglio AEV, Grillo TG, Di Stasi LC, and Sassaki LY contributed equally to the conception and design of the article, writing, and editing the manuscript, and review of the literature; All the authors approved the final version of the article to be published.
Supported byPostdoctoral Scholarship Grant, No. 4313/2022 PROPG/PROPE N° 05/2022 from UNESP (to de Oliveira ECS).
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors report having no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ligia Yukie Sassaki, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Medical School, São Paulo State University (Unesp), Av Professor Montenegro-Distrito de Rubião Junior, Botucatu 18618-686, São Paulo, Brazil. ligia.sassaki@unesp.br
Received: January 20, 2024 Peer-review started: January 20, 2024 First decision: January 31, 2024 Revised: February 9, 2024 Accepted: March 19, 2024 Article in press: March 19, 2024 Published online: April 28, 2024 Processing time: 96 Days and 13.4 Hours
Abstract
MicroRNAs (miRNAs), small non-coding RNAs composed of 18–24 nucleotides, are potent regulators of gene expression, contributing to the regulation of more than 30% of protein-coding genes. Considering that miRNAs are regulators of inflammatory pathways and the differentiation of intestinal epithelial cells, there is an interest in exploring their importance in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). IBD is a chronic and multifactorial disease of the gastrointestinal tract; the main forms are Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Several studies have investigated the dysregulated expression of miRNAs in IBD, demonstrating their important roles as regulators and potential biomarkers of this disease. This editorial presents what is known and what is expected regarding miRNAs in IBD. Although the important regulatory roles of miRNAs in IBD are clearly established, biomarkers for IBD that can be applied in clinical practice are lacking, emphasizing the importance of further studies. Discoveries regarding the influence of miRNAs on the inflammatory process and the exploration of their role in gene regulation are expected to provide a basis for the use of miRNAs not only as potent biomarkers in IBD but also as therapeutic targets for the control of inflammatory processes in personalized medicine.
Core Tip: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) function in the regulation of inflammatory pathways and the differentiation of intestinal epithelial cells. There is substantial evidence for the important regulatory roles of miRNAs in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), suggesting that they may serve as biomarkers. Therefore, this editorial aims to present what is already known and what the expectations are regarding the role of miRNAs in IBD.
