The Role of ncRNA in Cardiac Remodeling

Cardiac disease is one of the major causes of death and disability around the world. In response to pathological stimuli, such as pressure overload and myocardial infarction/ischemia, the heart undergoes extensive remodeling to confer resistance to cardiac stress and to maintain contractile function. Yet when the heart is under chronic pathological stress, compensatory cardiac remodeling gradually deteriorates into decompensated contractile and conduction dysfunction, which eventually leads to heart failure. Although past decade witnessed significant progress in the treatment of cardiac diseases including heart failure, therapeutic options that can significantly reduce morbidity and mortality and improve the life quality of human patients remain limited. Therefore, the discovery of novel therapeutic targets for cardioprotection is urgently needed for the development of effective treatments for heart diseases. Most, if not all cardiac research has been focused on the role of protein-coding genes in the occurrence and progression of cardiac disease. Yet, the protein-coding genes constitute only ~2% of the mammalian genome, while the vast majority of the remaining transcriptionally active regions (about 75–90%) encode functional non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs). ncRNAs encompasses a variety of functional RNA species. Among all ncRNAs, microRNAs (miRNAs), long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), and circular RNAs (circRNAs) have received the most attention with regard to their involvement in cardiac physiology and pathophysiology. Since increasing evidence indicates that ncRNAs are active participants in regulating various biological processes, it is of paramount importance to explore and delineate the RNA regulatory networks involving the various types of ncRNAs.

This Research Topic focuses on the functions of ncRNAs in cardiac remodeling and underlying molecular mechanisms, including but not limited to cardiac hypertrophy, myocardial infarction/ischemia, and heart failure. We welcome studies that cover the latest advances in depicting how non-coding RNAs interact with RNA binding proteins and modulate the gene regulatory network in cardiac disease progression. Clinical research for early diagnosis and prognosis of cardiac diseases by utilizing noncoding RNAs will also be welcomed.

We welcome submissions of Original Research, Review articles, and Case Reports focusing on but not limited to topics below:
1) The role of noncoding RNA in cardiac remodeling and/or underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms.
2) How different noncoding RNAs, such as long noncoding RNA, microRNA, circRNA, and RNA binding proteins form a complex gene regulatory network in the disease progress of cardiac remodeling.
3) Translational study on noncoding RNA in therapy for remodeling-related cardiac diseases in large animal models.
4) Clinical research for early diagnosis and prognosis of cardiac diseases with noncoding RNAs as novel biomarkers.
5) Novel strategy for (in vivo) delivery of noncoding RNAs or their inhibitors to cardiomyocytes for gene therapy.