Role of microRNA in diabetic cardiomyopathy: From mechanism to intervention

Diabetic cardiomyopathy is a chronic and irreversible heart complication in diabetic patients, and is characterized by complex pathophysiologic events including early diastolic dysfunction, cardiac hypertrophy, ventricular dilation and systolic dysfunction, eventually resulting in heart failure. Despite these characteristics, the underlying mechanisms leading to diabetic cardiomyopathy are still elusive. Recent studies have implicated microRNA, a small and highly conserved non-coding RNA molecule, in the etiology of diabetes and its complications, suggesting a potentially novel approach for the diagnosis and treatment of diabetic cardiomyopathy. This brief review aims at capturing recent studies related to the role of microRNA in diabetic cardiomyopathy. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Genetic and epigenetic control of heart failure - edited by Jun Ren & Megan Yingmei Zhang.