Regulatory Noncoding RNAs in Cardiovascular Disease: Shedding Light on ‘Dark Matter’

Abstract Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide accounting for more deaths than any other cause. CVD is regulated by stage-specific gene expression which, in turn, is controlled by myriads of regulatory noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs or miRNAs). Rapid advancement in genome mining technologies has identified different miRNAs in various tissues and body fluids. It is now well accepted that miRNAs represent critical regulators of cardiovascular function. The present review focuses primarily on recent updates on the basic miRNA biology; CVD-miRNA based research progress and functional significance of circulating noncoding RNAs. We also discuss their potential use as biomarkers and/or therapeutic targets in CVD.