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Review
. 2019 Mar 7:10:186.
doi: 10.3389/fneur.2019.00186. eCollection 2019.

An Overview of MicroRNAs as Biomarkers of ALS

Greig Joilin  1 , P Nigel Leigh  2 , Sarah F Newbury  2 , Majid Hafezparast  1
Affiliations
Review

An Overview of MicroRNAs as Biomarkers of ALS

Greig Joilin et al. Front Neurol. .

Erratum in

Abstract

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS; MND, motor neuron disease) is a debilitating neurodegenerative disease affecting 4.5 per 100,000 people per year around the world. There is currently no cure for this disease, and its causes are relatively unknown. Diagnosis is based on a battery of clinical tests up to a year after symptom onset, with no robust markers of diagnosis or disease progression currently identified. A major thrust of current research is to identify potential non-invasive markers ("biomarkers") in body fluids such as blood and/or cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) to use for diagnostic or prognostic purposes. Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), including microRNAs (miRNAs), are found at detectable and stable levels in blood and other bodily fluids. Specific ncRNAs can vary in levels between ALS patients and non-ALS controls without the disease. In this review, we will provide an overview of early findings, demonstrate the potential of this new class as biomarkers, and discuss future challenges and opportunities taking this forward to help patients with ALS.

Keywords: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; biomarkers; microRNA; motor neuron disease; non-coding RNA.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Summary of the different sample types, techniques, and tools that were used to profile miRNA biomarkers in ALS in the studies presented in this review. As can be seen alongside Table 1, numerous different combinations of these sample types and tools across the techniques were employed across a number of studies.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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