miR-140 promotes cardiac-apoptosis through mitofusin 1

What is it about?

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small noncoding RNAs that mediate posttranscriptional gene silencing. Mitochondrial fission participates in the induction of apoptosis. It remains largely unknown whether miRNAs can regulate mitochondrial fission. Our data provide novel evidence demonstrating that the mitochondrial fission program can be regulated by miRNA.

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Why is it important?

This study found that miR-140 can promote mitochondrial fission and apoptotic by suppressing mitochondrial fusion protein (Mfn1) expression. Therefore, the axis of miR-140 and Mfn1 can be a therapeutic target for the development of interventional treatment of mitochondrion-related cardiac diseases.