A microRNA profile comparison between thoracic aortic dissection and normal thoracic aorta indicates the potential role of microRNAs in contributing to thoracic aortic dissection pathogenesis

TAD is a life-threatening disease with high mortality rates whose underlying mechanism remains unclear. The miRNAs usually negatively modulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. Studying both the disease-related proteins and miRNAs in conjunction with the intermodulation between them can offer clarifications to the molecular mechanism of the disease and provide more reliable molecular targets for prevention and treatment. Each possible miRNA gene pair we identified in this study is a strong candidate for a major study aimed at definitively confirming the presence of specific miRNA gene interactions, and providing possible molecular targets for prevention and treatment of the disease.