Noninvasive biomarkers with diagnostic value and prognostic applications have long been desired to replace muscle biopsy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) patients. Growing evidence indicates that circulating microRNAs are biomarkers to assess pathophysiological status. Here, we show that the serum levels of six muscle-specific miRNAs (miR-1/206/133/499/208a/208b, also known as myomiRs) wer...

BACKGROUND Here, we determined miR-499 involvement in the protective effect of ischemic postconditioning (IPC) against myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury and identified the underlying mechanisms. METHODS To investigate the cardioprotective effect of IPC-induced miR-499, rats were divided into the following five groups: sham, I/R, IPC, IPC + scramble, and IPC + antagomiR-499. Hemodyn...

A case-control study of the association of miR-499A>G rs3746444 with risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)was conducted. Patients with HCC and healthy control subjects were recruited for genotyping of miR- 499A>G using duplex polymerase-chain-reaction with confronting-two-pair primer(PCR-RFLP) analysis. The MiR-499 GG genotype was associated with a decreased risk of HCC as compared with the mi...

Upon adaption of skeletal muscle to physiological and pathophysiological stimuli, muscle fiber type and mitochondrial function are coordinately regulated. Recent studies have identified pathways involved in control of contractile proteins of oxidative-type fibers. However, the mechanism for coupling of mitochondrial function to the muscle contractile machinery during fiber type transition remai...

BACKGROUND MicroRNAs are a class of new noncoding RNA that play important roles in the pathogenesis of tumor. Rs3746444 in miR-499 is suggested to be associated with cancer susceptibility. In the present study, we assess the association between miR-499 rs3746444 polymorphism and cancer susceptibility through a meta-analysis. METHODS We searched relevant articles from the PubMed and Embase dat...

BACKGROUND Owing to inconsistent and inconclusive results, we performed a meta-analysis to derive a more precise estimation of the association between miR-499 rs3746444 polymorphism and cancer risk. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS A systematic search of the Pubmed, Excerpta Medica Database (Embase) and Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM) databases was performed with the last search up...

BACKGROUND MicroRNAs (miRs) negatively regulate transcription and are important determinants of normal heart development and heart failure pathogenesis. Despite the significant knowledge gained in mouse studies, their functional roles in human (h) heart remain elusive. METHODS AND RESULTS We hypothesized that miRs that figure prominently in cardiac differentiation are differentially expressed...

AIMS Circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) may represent a novel class of biomarkers; therefore, we examined whether acute myocardial infarction (MI) modulates miRNAs plasma levels in humans and mice. METHODS AND RESULTS Healthy donors (n = 17) and patients (n = 33) with acute ST-segment elevation MI (STEMI) were evaluated. In one cohort (n = 25), the first plasma sample was obtained 517 ± 309 min a...

BACKGROUND Geriatric patients with acute non-ST elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) can frequently present atypical symptoms and non-diagnostic electrocardiogram. The detection of modest cardiac troponin T (cTnT) elevation is challenging for physicians needing to routinely triage these patients. Unfortunately, non-coronary diseases, such as acute heart failure (CHF), may cause cTnT elevati...

BACKGROUND Rapid and correct diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (MI) has an important impact on patient treatment and prognosis. We compared the diagnostic performance of high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) and cardiac enriched microRNAs (miRNAs) in patients with MI. METHODS Circulating concentrations of cardiac-enriched miR-208b and miR-499 were measured by quantitative PCR i...