Emerging evidence has demonstrated that regulatory noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs), such as long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) and miRNAs, play crucial roles in the initiation and progress of myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury (MIRI), which is associated with autophagy, apoptosis and necrosis of cardiomyocytes, as well as oxidative stress, inflammation and mitochondrial dysfunction. LncRNAs serve as a precursor or host of miRNAs and directly/indirectly affecting miRNAs via competitive binding or sponge effects. Simultaneously, miRNAs post-transcriptionally regulate the expression of genes by targeting various mRNA sequences due to their imperfect pairing with mRNAs. This review summarizes the potential regulatory role of lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA axes in MIRI and related molecular mechanisms of cardiac disorders, also provides insight into the potential therapies for MIRI-induced diseases.
Keywords: apoptosis; autophagy; lncRNA–miRNA–mRNA axes; myocardial ischemia; necrosis; reperfusion injury.