MicroRNAs inhibit venous ulcer healing

Miami - Aberrantly expressed micro ribonucleic acids (miRNAs) may slow healing of chronic venous ulcers, a new study suggests.

Researchers from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine said the findings are a critical step in developing new treatments for venous ulcers and potentially other chronic nonhealing wounds.

Investigators identified six MiRNAs plentiful in 10 patients with chronic venous ulcers. In further human and animal models, the study found that these miRNAs interfered with several genes crucial to healing the ulcers, HealthCanal.com reports.

The researchers determined that overexpressed miRNAs targeted multiple signaling pathways, which delayed epithelialization and the formation of granulation tissue, HealthCanal.com reports.

“Compared with currently used therapies, the possibility to regulate multiple targets by miRNAs may have a potential to more effectively achieve wound closure,” the researchers wrote. “Our results support that notion that (venous ulcer)-specific miRNAs may serve as a new class of diagnostic and, potentially, therapeutic targets.”

The study was published online Aug. 24 in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

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