miRNAs are essential factors of an extensively conserved post-transcriptional process controlling gene expression at mRNA level. Varoius biological processes such as growth and differentiation are regulated by miRNAs. Web of Science and PubMed databases were searched using the Endnote software for the publications about the role miRNA-183 family in inner ear: hair cell development and deafness published from 2000 to 2016. A triplet of these miRNAs particularly the miR-183 family is highly expressed in vertebrate hair cells, as with some of the peripheral neurosensory cells. Point mutations in one member of this family, miR-96, underlie DFNA50 autosomal deafness in humans and lead to abnormal hair cell development and survival in mice. In zebrafish, overexpression of the miR-183 family induces extra and ectopic hair cells, while knockdown decreases the number of hair cell. The miR-183 family (miR-183, miR-96 and miR-182) is expressed abundantly in some types of sensory cell in the eye, nose and inner ear. In the inner ear, mechanosensory hair cells have a robust expression level. Despite much similarity of these miRs sequences, small differences lead to distinct targeting of messenger RNAs targets. In the near future, miRNAs are likely to be explored as potential therapeutic agents to repair or regenerate hair cells, cell reprogramming and regenerative medicine applications in animal models because they can simultaneously down-regulate dozens or even hundreds of transcripts.
Keywords: Hair cell; Hearing loss; miR-183 family; miRNA.