Micrornas: As A Novel Potential Tool For Diagnosis, Prognosis, and Therapeutic Agents in Hypertension. - Micrornas: As A Novel Potential Tool For Diagnosis, Prognosis, and Therapeutic Agents in Hypertension. - Open Access Pub

The aim of this review is to compile our understanding of microRNA (miRNA) and its significance in Hypertension (HTN) pathophysiology. The wide spectrum of health disparity is one of the reasons for the dominance of HTN in humans for decades. We are striving hard to understand these variations, and we know to some extent that genetic susceptibilities do exist in HTN. Understanding miRNA will add to the current understanding of the disease process. In later parts, we discussed possible clinical implications of miRNAs in HTN as a biomarker of disease expression and its potential in prognostic and therapeutic applications in HTN. DOI10.14302/issn.2329-9487.jhc-15-677 Over 70 million American adults (29%) suffer from Hypertension (HTN) 1. If this trend continues to rise, there will be additional 9.9% adults with HTN by 2030 2. HTN is a well-known risk factor for development of cardiovascular diseases, stroke, and End Stage Renal Disease. Even with advances in medicine and novel therapeutic agents, HTN was responsible for 1000 deaths/day in 2013 in the United States alone 3. One possible explanation of the higher mortality rate from cardiovascular diseases could be variability in disease presentation and diverse responses to therapy. This is further augmented due to ethnic diversity in the United States; for instance, HTN occurs earlier in onset and more prevalently in African American populations, suggesting that a gap exists in our understanding of HTN mechanics and its inconsistent presentation. Growing evidence in the field of miRNA could add to our current understanding of disease variation, and it could be a potential tool for diagnosis, prognosis, and therapy in HTN 2. Hypertension Epidemiology and its Impact on Health Care Economics HTN is one of the major risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and stroke 4. CVD risk is multiplied by factor of 2 for each BP increment of 20/10 mm of Hg 4. HTN is a major burden within the global population as well, with 972 million adults suffering from HTN worldwide 5. There are sizeable variations in the prevalence of HTN in the USA, with 43% and 45.7% of African American men and women respectively as compared to 33.9% and 31.3 Caucasian men and women 3. In a 45 year old healthy African American, the 40 year risk of developing HTN is 92.7%, while in Hispanic populations it is 92.4%. On the other hand there is relatively low risk of developing HTN among Caucasians (up to 86%), and an even lower risk in Asian populations (84.1%) 6. Furthermore, total life expectancy was found to be 5.1 more years for men with