Long Non-Coding RNAs in Cardiac Hypertrophy

Heart disease represents one of the main challenges in modern medicine with insufficient treatment options. Whole genome sequencing allowed for the discovery of several classes of non-coding RNA (ncRNA) and widened our understanding of disease regulatory circuits. The intrinsic ability of long ncRNAs (lncRNAs) and circular RNAs (circRNAs) to regulate gene expression by a plethora of mechanisms make them candidates for conceptually new treatment options. However, important questions remain to be addressed before we can fully exploit the therapeutic potential of these molecules. Increasing our knowledge of their mechanisms of action and refining the approaches for modulating lncRNAs expression are just a few of the challenges we face. The accurate identification of novel lncRNAs is hampered by their relatively poor cross-species sequence conservation and their low and context-dependent expression pattern. Nevertheless, progress has been made in their annotation in recent years, while a few experimental studies have confirmed the value of lncRNAs as new mechanisms in the development of cardiac hypertrophy and other cardiovascular diseases. Here, we explore cardiac lncRNA biology and the evidence that this class of molecules has therapeutic benefit to treat cardiac hypertrophy.