Your micro RNA will reveal risk of a heart attack!

Vadodara: Ever wondered why a seemingly slim, physically fit person succumbs to heart attack? Well, that happens from formation of plaque in arteries, a medical condition known as atherosclerosis. What’s worse: Even blood tests to check lipid or cholesterol levels do not establish the amount of plaque accumulated in the human arteries!
The good news: MS University researchers have found a way through which individuals can know about their risk of atherosclerosis, or plaque formation.
After almost six years of study, researchers established that a micro-RNA known as micro RNA 34 a-5p (miR) plays a role in formation of plaque inside the arteries.
This miR will become an important biomarker in the future to understand an individual's risk to cardiovascular complications.
Research scholar Hitarthi Vyas, a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Michigan, under Dr Ranjitsinh Devkar, assistant professor at MSU’s Department of Zoology researched the role of miR in experimentally-induced atherosclerosis in mice.
The path-breaking study funded by the Department of Science and Technology’s Science and Engineering Research Board was published in two US-based internationally reputed journals — Antioxidants and Plos One.
“What we essentially did was to investigate the role of this miR by using an in-silico technique which employs the use of software to perform molecular docking and establish interaction of miR with the target genes,” said Devkar. "We found the miR interacting with at least 40 other micro RNAs linked to impacting cardiovascular disorders,” he said. Vyas then continued the test in two mouse models — C-57 BL-6J mice and Sprague Dawley rat model — subjecting them to photo-period-induced changes altering the light regime of day and night periods — and later assessing the miR levels in their aorta. They found it had shot up. Interestingly, the experimental animals were not given any high-fat diet.
As the next step, they reduced miR level and saw pro-atherogenic changes like plaque formation and hardening of aorta getting reduced.