MicroRNAs and their therapeutic potential for human diseases: aberrant microRNA expression in Alzheimer's disease brains.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a group of small noncoding RNAs that regulate translational repression of multiple target mRNAs. The miRNAs in a whole cell regulate greater than 30% of all protein-coding genes. The vast majority of presently identified miRNAs are expressed in the brain in a spatially and temporally controlled manner. They play a key role in neuronal development, differentiation, and synaptic plasticity. However, at present, the pathological implications of deregulated miRNA expression in neurodegenerative diseases remain largely unknown. This review will briefly summarize recent studies that focus attention on aberrant miRNA expression in Alzheimer's disease brains.