The Role of ncRNAs in Cardiac Infarction and Regeneration

Figure 1. Cardiac inflammation. Schematic representation of the main miRNA, lncRNA, and circRNA gene-regulatory networks reported to play a role in distinct signaling pathways leading to cardiac inflammation. Green arrows delineate the ncRNAs that activate the signaling pathway while those depicted in red inhibit such signaling pathways. Note that many ncRNAs preferentially modulate NF-κB signaling, thus influencing M1 to M2 macrophage activation. circRNAs are depicted in green, microRNAs are depicted in yellow, and the different signaling pathways modulating the inflammatory response are depicted in blue.

Figure 2. Cardiac fibrosis. Schematic representation of the main miRNAs’ and lncRNAs’ gene-regulatory networks reported to be involved in distinct signaling pathways leading to cardiac fibrosis. Green arrows delineate the ncRNAs that activate the signaling pathways while those depicted in red inhibit such signaling pathways. Note that ncRNAs can influence multiple and distinct signaling pathways leading to the activation of fibroblasts in myofibroblasts and thus ECM deposition. circRNAs are depicted in green, microRNAs are depicted in yellow, and the different signaling pathways modulating the inflammatory response are depicted in blue.

Figure 3. Schematic representation of the distinct miRNAs reported to be involved in distinct biological processes during MI. microRNAs are depicted in large, intermediate, and small sizes according to the number of biological events in which they are involved, e.g., miR-23 is larger since it is involved in inflammation, fibrosis, apoptosis, and autophagy, while miR-30 is only involved in fibrosis. Note that there is increasing information available about the role of microRNAs in three critical biological processes involved in MI, i.e., inflammation, fibrosis, and apoptosis, while the information on their roles in other biological processes, such as proliferation, cell viability, autophagy, angiogenesis, and oxidative stress, is still incipient.