The Assessment of microRNA Role in Kidney Transplantation

Abstract

miRNAs are short, single stranded, noncoding RNA molecules with approximately 22 nucleotides. They play crucial roles in posttranscriptional regulation. To date, more than 21,000 mature miRNAs have been discovered from 193 species. miRNAs are important in renal physiology. Their expressions may be specific to different organs and tissues, or the same miRNAs may be expressedin different organs. With this discovery, it has been reported that tissue-specific miRNAs can be used as biomarkers for allograftrejection and ischemia reperfusion injury following renal transplantations. Although allograft biopsy is accepted as a gold standard, scientists have been developing novel approaches to prevent the associated risks, such as bleeding and infection, followingbiopsy. Recently, several attempts have been made in terms of the use of urine as a noninvasive material instead of biopsy samples.However, no procedure is available for routine testing. Therefore, further investigations are warranted.