Retinoic acid and microRNA
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Updated: Dec 22, 2025

Analysis of Retinoic Acid-induced Neural Differentiation of Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells in Two and Three-dimensional Embryoid Bodies
Published on: April 22, 2017
Lijun Wang1, Atharva Piyush Rohatgi1, Yu-Jui Yvonne Wan1
1Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of California Davis Health, Sacramento, CA, United States.
Abstract:
Retinoic acid (RA), the biologically active metabolite of vitamin A, regulates a vast spectrum of biological processes, such as cell differentiation, proliferation, apoptosis, and morphogenesis. microRNAs (miRNAs) play a crucial role in regulating gene expression by binding to messenger RNA (mRNA) which leads to mRNA degradation and/or translational repression. Like RA, miRNAs regulate multiple biological processes, including proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, neurogenesis, tumorigenesis, and immunity. In fact, RA regulates the expression of many miRNAs to exert its biological functions. miRNA and RA regulatory networks have been studied in recent years. In this manuscript, we summarize literature that highlights the impact of miRNAs in RA-regulated molecular networks included in the PubMed.
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