Small but smart--microRNAs in the centre of inflammatory processes during cardiovascular diseases, the metabolic syndrome, and ageing.

With a progressively growing elderly population, ageing-associated pathologies such as cardiovascular diseases are becoming an increasing economic, social, and personal burden for Western societies. Interestingly, all ageing-associated diseases share a common denominator: inflammation. Recently, microRNAs were shown to be implicated in the full range of processes of ageing, inflammation, and cardiovascular diseases. This review focuses on their role in cardiovascular diseases with emphasis on their implication in the inflammatory processes that accompany heart failure, atherosclerosis, coronary artery disease, and finally obesity and diabetes as components of the ageing-associated metabolic syndrome.