Correlation Between microRNA and Bronchial Asthma and Regulatory Mechanism of Chinese Medicine： A Review / 中国实验方剂学杂志

ABSTRACT

Bronchial asthma is a common heterogeneous chronic inflammatory disorder of airways characterized by airway hyperreactivity， mucus hypersecretion， and airflow obstruction. The incidence of asthma has been on the rise worldwide， and about 45.7 million adults in China suffer from asthma. Asthma is considered a costly disease， resulting in a significant economic and social burden. microRNAs （miRNAs） are long noncoding RNAs that regulate gene expression. They play a role in asthma through their activity in multiple immune and non-immune cell subsets. They impact multiple facets of critical cell function including cell survival， proliferation， and differentiation， which in turn induce the occurrence of airway spasm， mucus hypersecretion， and asthma symptoms. Traditional Chinese medicine has a long history in the treatment of asthma. Over the past a few decades， a growing number of herbs have proven effective in treating asthma in clinical trials or asthma inflammation in animal models. Chinese medicine has the features of multiple components and multiple targets. Evidence suggests that Chinese medicine and components of Chinese medicine can regulate immune homeostasis， improve airway inflammation and airway remodeling by modulating microRNA expression for asthma treatment. However， there is a lack of systematic and detailed reviews on the regulation of asthma-related microRNA expression by Chinese medicine. The article aims to review the correlation between microRNAs and asthma in animal experiments and clinical trials in recent years， as well as the mechanism of microRNA regulation by Chinese medicine in the treatment of asthma， with the intention of providing a reference for basic research and clinical application.