Single nucleotide polymorphisms of microRNA in cardiovascular diseases

Despite the advances in medicine and in science of diagnosis, cardiovascular diseases (CVD) remain the number one cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Apart from the modifiable risk factors, genetic factors are believed to also influence the outcome of this umbrella of diseases. Under the genetic factors, miRNA polymorphisms, namely miR-146a (rs2910164), miR-196 (rs11614913) and miR-499 (rs3746444), have become an important tool to study the mechanism that underlie the pathogenesis of this disease. In this review, we analyze the advances made through various research studies and the evidence provided by them in the area of miRNA polymorphisms by comparing the allelic frequencies and genotyping patterns. Interestingly, these studies have contradicting results even those conducted in same set of population. We also highlight the gap in literature search as majority of these studies have been conducted in Chinese population and data gaps are evident in Caucasian population, along with developing countries like, India, where no such data is available. This makes the daunting task of presenting a global picture and of the extent these polymorphisms play a role in CVD progression, even more difficult. Therefore, we suggest that more work needs to be done by taking various geographical domains in to consideration. Also, larger sample size calculated through statistical tools is the key to progress in establishing the genetic co-relation of miRNA polymorphisms and CVDs.