Abstract:

Vascular diseases are a serious problem that threats human health with key pathological characteristics of aberrant proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells and formation of neointimal lesions. Recent evidence has demonstrated that non-coding RNAs play an important role in the regulation of tissue homeostasis and pathophysiological conditions. Besides microRNAs (miRNAs), long non-coding RNAs (LncRNAs) contribute to gene expression and signaling pathway at various stages. Recently, LncRNAs have been identified to play a role in vascular development, lineage commitment, and mesoderm differentiation into heart and to be associated with angiotensin Ⅱ actions and vascular diseases, including heart diseases and atherosclerosis. LncRNAs may mediate many different pathways in vascular development and related diseases. This review mainly discusses the role of LncRNAs in vascular diseases.

Key words: long noncoding RNAs, vascular disease, vascular development