Asthma MicroRNA Regulome Development Using Validated miRNA-Target Interaction Visualization

Area of Science:

• Genomics and Bioinformatics
• Molecular Biology
• Systems Medicine

Background:

• Asthma is a complex disease influenced by genetic and environmental factors, lacking precise biomarkers for diagnosis and stratification.
• Epigenomic factors, particularly microRNAs (miRNAs), are crucial in asthma development and severity due to host/environment interactions.
• Current clinical approaches lack robust molecular diagnostics for asthma's intricate nature.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze and catalog microRNAs (miRNAs) associated with asthma and their experimentally validated targets.
• To construct a comprehensive miRNA-target regulatory network, termed the asthma miRNA regulome.
• To identify potential asthma biomarker candidates and establish a foundation for translational research.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of miRNA-asthma associations using PubMed and Web of Science databases.
• Construction and visualization of an miRNA-target network using Cytoscape.
• Identification of central molecules and subnetworks within the asthma miRNA regulome.

Main Results:

• Cataloged 48 asthma-associated miRNAs and 54 experimentally validated miRNA targets.
• Identified four central molecules accounting for 34.5% of all interactions in the network.
• The constructed asthma miRNA regulome network revealed subnetworks indicative of potential biomarker candidates.

Conclusions:

• The developed asthma miRNA regulome provides a robust foundation for translational research and systems medicine in asthma.
• The identified miRNA-target interactions offer potential biomarker candidates for asthma diagnostics and therapeutics.
• The protocol for constructing miRNA regulomes can be applied to biomarker development for other multifactorial diseases.