Bio Immune(G)ene Medicine and the Use of miRNAs to Regulate the Cell

Abstract

Maria Carme Pares Santilari and Gilbert Glady

MicroRNAs (miRNAs or miRs) are a type of non-coding RNA molecules that regulate the gene expression in a negative way, by downregulating the gene expression mainly at the post-transcriptional level, either by the mRNA degradation process or the inhibition of the translation. The role that many miRNAs play in the pathogenesis of several diseases is well known, such as in the inflammation process, in several steps of the oncogenesis or the metabolism of several virus and bacteria among many others. One of the main limitations in the therapeutic use of miRNAs is the ability to reach the target, as well as doing so without causing any collateral damage. One microRNA can indeed regulate up to 200 target-genes, and one gene can be influenced by a lot of different microRNAs. This is the purpose of the Bio Immune(G)ene Medicine: to achieve the cell without harm, use all the molecular resources available, especially epigenetic with the microRNAs, and to restore the cell homeostasis. The Bio Immune(G)ene Medicine only seeks to play a regulatory biomimetic role, to give the cell the needed information for its own right regulation. Our experience in cell regulation for the past few years has shown the way to fight, for instance, against the deleterious effects of viruses or bacteria in the lymphocytes, also at the background of many autoimmune or allergic diseases, as well as to regulate many other pathological processes. To fulfil this purpose, nanobiotechnology is used to reach the targets; we thus introduce very low doses of miRNAs in nano compounds with the aim to promote the regulation of the main signalling pathways disturbed in a given pathology.

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