Protein coding sequences account for around 3% of the human genome, the rest are noncoding RNA (ncRNA) including long ncRNA (lncRNA) and miRNA. Accumulating evidence indicates that lncRNAs and miRNAs are candidate biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis and therapy of cardiovascular diseases. The lncRNAs act as sponge-like effects on numerous miRNAs, subsequently regulating miRNAs and their targets, mRNA functions. The role of lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA axis in pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases has been recently reported and highlighted. Herein, this review discusses emerging roles of lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA axis in cardiovascular pathophysiology and regulation, with a novel focus on cardioprotective network activities of the two subgroup ncRNAs.
Keywords: apoptosis; atherosclerosis; autophagy; ceRNA; endothelial cells; necrosis.