Specialists from the National Research Center "Kurchatov Institute", together with colleagues from the National Medical Research Center of Therapy and Preventive Medicine, have discovered new molecules — circular RNAs (circRNAs) — that may play an important role in the development of ischemic heart disease (IHD).
IHD is one of the main causes of death among the adult population. It develops due to the narrowing of the arteries that feed the heart. Such changes disrupt the flow of oxygen to the heart muscle and lead to serious consequences. Scientists believe that special regulatory molecules, circRNAs, are involved in this process. These are small sections of genetic material that affect the function of other RNAs and, accordingly, the activity of genes.
First, the researchers identified more than 900 genes that behave differently in healthy people and in patients with IHD. Of these, they identified eight genes associated with an increase in the number of arterial stenoses. After that, the scientists began to look for circRNAs that could affect these genes.
Using computer analysis and special biological databases, it was possible to detect 10 circRNAs and 46 microRNAs (another type of regulatory molecule) that can interact with five of these eight genes. At the same time, most of the circRNAs found had not previously been described as related to cardiovascular diseases.
The next stage of work is to study in detail how these circRNAs regulate the genes that affect the development of stenosis (narrowing of blood vessels). These studies will allow a deeper understanding of how ischemic heart disease develops and will help create new approaches to its treatment.
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