Heart regeneration after myocardial infarction: the role of microRNAs

The curative therapy after myocardial infarction (MI) is to regenerate new functional myocardial tissue: the formation of new contractile cardiomyocytes and the revascularization in the injured region. Although, it is admitted that adult mammal heart can regenerate during physiological ageing and after heart injuries. Its regenerative capacity is very limited and could not compensate the loss of an amount of functional tissue after MI. Therefore, stimulation of the regenerative capacity of the human heart could be the primary option to restore cardiac function after MI. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNAs that implicated in the gene expression. Several miRNAs have been shown to control important processes that contribute to the consequences of MI. MiRNAs play an important role during heart development and regulate cardiomyocytes proliferation and revascularization after MI. New data provide a proof of concept for identifying and activating conserved molecular programs to regenerate the damaged heart. In this review, we focus on the role of miRNAs in heart development and regeneration after MI.