LAUSR

Besides contribution of the well-understood protein-encoding genome, noncoding RNA (ncRNA) transcripts have been discovered for pleiotropic aspects in vascular biology. The heterogenous class of ncRNA comprises members such as microRNAs (≈20 nucleotides), long ncRNAs (lncRNAs; >200 nucleotides), and circularized lncRNAs, so-called circular RNAs. Experiments have shown that ncRNAs play powerful roles in the establishment of the features of vascular smooth muscle cell (vSMC). Initial studies of single miR clusters, such as miR-143/145, proved that small ncRNAs have regulatory functions in vSMC differentiation. Subsequent work indicated that miRNAs expressed in vSMCs contributed to the control of vascular homeostasis and blood pressure and that miR-24 played a role in the development of the vSMC phenotype.