The concept of a hype cycle is a well-established business concept, in which novel ideas are said to have an initial wave of hype followed by disillusionment. Only after that, the novel concept takes off and become truly useful entering a so-called plateau of productivity. In biomedical science, the field of microRNAs (miRNAs) certainly had a peak of interest in the end of the last decade. This led by high impact publications (1) and characterization of both novel miRNA-entities as well as their associations to a broad range of diseases. Nonetheless, no clear pharmaceutical successes emerged: miRNA targets are being pursued as therapeutic targets, but none have as of yet successfully made it through clinical trials (2). Likewise the use of miRNA-based treatment strategies targeting regular mRNA is an area of interest (3). In this editorial we focus on a third aspect of miRNAs: the use of miRNAs as prognostic biomarkers in disease, asking the question if miRNAs are now entering this plateau of productivity in which actual benefit will be seen. We focus on the recent paper by Bye et al.: “Circulating microRNAs predict future fatal myocardial infarction in healthy individuals - The HUNT study” (4). This paper is of particular interest because it presents strong evidence for prognostic benefit of miRNAs. The study was based on the HUNT cohort, a Norwegian biobank-initiative in which an impressive 88% of the adult population of the Nord-Trøndelag County participated, giving blood samples and questionnaire information in 1984, 1995, and 2006. With the unique advantage of having both frozen serum and decades of follow-up information, the study was designed as a prospective nested case-control design with fatal acute myocardial infarct (AMI) as endpoint and controls matched on risk factors such as body mass index (BMI), total cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (4). The main discovery phase results yielded 12 miRNAs that were associated with future AMI. This editorial will discuss the perspectives of these findings as well as considerations for similar future miRNA studies.
The hunt for fatal myocardial infarction biomarkers: Predictive circulating microRNAs
Rizzo M.Secondo
Conceptualization
;
2016
Abstract
The concept of a hype cycle is a well-established business concept, in which novel ideas are said to have an initial wave of hype followed by disillusionment. Only after that, the novel concept takes off and become truly useful entering a so-called plateau of productivity. In biomedical science, the field of microRNAs (miRNAs) certainly had a peak of interest in the end of the last decade. This led by high impact publications (1) and characterization of both novel miRNA-entities as well as their associations to a broad range of diseases. Nonetheless, no clear pharmaceutical successes emerged: miRNA targets are being pursued as therapeutic targets, but none have as of yet successfully made it through clinical trials (2). Likewise the use of miRNA-based treatment strategies targeting regular mRNA is an area of interest (3). In this editorial we focus on a third aspect of miRNAs: the use of miRNAs as prognostic biomarkers in disease, asking the question if miRNAs are now entering this plateau of productivity in which actual benefit will be seen. We focus on the recent paper by Bye et al.: “Circulating microRNAs predict future fatal myocardial infarction in healthy individuals - The HUNT study” (4). This paper is of particular interest because it presents strong evidence for prognostic benefit of miRNAs. The study was based on the HUNT cohort, a Norwegian biobank-initiative in which an impressive 88% of the adult population of the Nord-Trøndelag County participated, giving blood samples and questionnaire information in 1984, 1995, and 2006. With the unique advantage of having both frozen serum and decades of follow-up information, the study was designed as a prospective nested case-control design with fatal acute myocardial infarct (AMI) as endpoint and controls matched on risk factors such as body mass index (BMI), total cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (4). The main discovery phase results yielded 12 miRNAs that were associated with future AMI. This editorial will discuss the perspectives of these findings as well as considerations for similar future miRNA studies.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
