Regulation of lipid metabolism by miRNAs

National Heart, Lung, And Blood Institute

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Abstract

miRNAs are small regulatory RNA molecules the modulate gene expression by binding to their target mRNAs and either promoting mRNA degradation or inhibiting translation. They are known to be key regulators of many metabolic processes. In the past year, we used a bioinformatic approach for identifying miRNAs that may serve as key regulatory hubs in lipid metabolism. Using this approach, we found that miR-27b was predicted to regulate more lipid-related genes than other miRNAs. We then went on to demonstrate that miRNA does indeed modulated several key genes in lipid metabolism, such Gpam and Angptl3. We are currently examining the in vivo effect of miR-27B on lipid metabolism in mice.