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Regulation of MicroRNA by Antagomirs

A New Class of Pharmacological Antagonists for the Specific Regulation of Gene Function?

School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health and Hunter Medical Research Institute, University of Newcastle; John Hunter Children's Hospital, Newcastle, New South Wales; and John Curtin School for Medical Research, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

Correspondence and requests for reprints should be addressed to Joerg Mattes and Paul Foster, School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health and Hunter Medical Research Institute, University of Newcastle, NSW 2300, Australia. E-mail: Joerg.mattes{at}newcastle.edu.au and Paul.foster{at}newcastle.edu.au

The discovery of small "noncoding" or "nonmessenger" RNA molecules that are repressors of translation (microRNAs) has provided the opportunity to specifically suppress a gene or clusters of genes. Moreover, the recent employment of synthetic analogs of these small RNA molecules termed "antagomirs" has shown that microRNAs of interest can be specifically targeted. Understanding the role of microRNAs in fundamental processes associated with complex diseases such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cancer, chronic infections, and immune disorders may aid in disease diagnosis and prognosis and potentially identify new therapeutic targets.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE Understanding the miRNA signature in susceptible individuals may facilitate the partitioning of patients into distinct subpopulations for targeted therapy, aid in disease diagnosis and prognosis, and potentially identify new therapeutic targets.

 

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