A myriad of roles of miR-25 in health and disease

Small non-coding RNAs including microRNAs (miRNAs) have been recently recognized as important regulators of gene expression. MicroRNAs play myriads of roles in physiological processes as well as in the pathogenesis of a number of diseases by translational repression or mRNA destabilization of numerous target genes. The miR-106b-25 cluster is highly conserved in vertebrates and consists of three members including miR-106b, miR-93 and miR-25. MiR-106b and miR-93 share the same seed sequences; however, miR-25 has only a similar seed sequence resulting in different predicted target mRNAs. In this review, we specifically focus on the role of miR-25 in healthy and diseased conditions. Many of miR-25 target mRNAs are involved in biological processes such as cell proliferation, differentiation, and migration, apoptosis, oxidative stress, inflammation, calcium handling, etc. Therefore, it is no surprise that miR-25 has been reported as a key regulator of common cancerous and non-cancerous diseases. MiR-25 plays an important role in the pathogenesis of acute myocardial infarction, left ventricular hypertrophy, heart failure, diabetes mellitus, diabetic nephropathy, tubulointerstitial nephropathy, asthma bronchiale, cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury, neurodegenerative diseases, schizophrenia, multiple sclerosis, etc. MiR-25 is also a well-described oncogenic miRNA playing a crucial role in the development of many tumor types including brain tumors, lung, breast, ovarian, prostate, thyroid, oesophageal, gastric, colorectal, hepatocellular cancers, etc. In this review, our aim is to discuss the translational therapeutic role of miR-25 in common diseased conditions based on relevant basic research and clinical studies.