微小RNA-499的表达特征及生物学作用

微小RNA-499（mieroRNA-499，miR-499）是近年来发现的肌球蛋白基因编码的miRNA（miRNA encoded by myosingene，myo—miR）家族新成员，目前发现它主要在人和动物的心肌和骨骼肌中表达，同时在其它多种组织中也可以被检测到。miR-499在心肌细胞的分化中起着至关重要的调控作用。在成人心肌和骨骼肌中，miR-499通过促进β-肌球蛋白重链（β—myosin heavy chain，p-MHC）的表达，使肌细胞的氧代谢和耐受力增强。miR-499可能通过不同的信号转导通路，参与了不同的心肌病理过程。此外，miR-499的血清／血浆水平在多种疾病患者中有显著变化，miR-499前体（pre—miR-499）的多态性也与人体对多种疾病的易感性相关，这些使其有望成为某些疾病临床检验的生物学标志物之一。

Expression and Biological Function of Micro-RNA-499

microRNA-499 （miR-499） is a newly discovered member of miRNAs encoded by myosin gene （myo-miR） family. It is mainly expressed in myocardium and skeletal muscle, as well in other tissues, miR-499 plays a critical role in regulating the differentiation of myocardial cells. In adult myocardium and skeletal muscle, miR-499 improves oxygen metabolism and tolerance of mus- cle. In pathological conditions, miR-499 may play different roles in myocardium through various sig- nal pathways. In addition, the serum or plasma level of miR-499 varies obviously in many disea- ses. Polymorphism of pre-miR-499 is related to human disease susceptibility, which is expected to become one of the biomarkers in clinical settings. We review here the recent progression in miR-499 research field.