Abstract

Oxidative stress influences several physiological and pathological cellular events, including cell differentiation, excessive growth, proliferation, apoptosis, and inflammatory response. Therefore, oxidative stress is involved in the pathogenesis of various diseases, including pulmonary fibrosis, epilepsy, hypertension, atherosclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, cardiovascular disease, and Alzheimer’s disease. Recent studies have shown that several microRNAs (miRNAs) are involved in the development of various diseases caused by oxidative stress and that miRNAs may be useful to determine the inflammatory characteristics of immune responses during infection and disease. In this review, we describe the known effects of miRNAs on reactive oxygen species to induce oxidative stress and miRNA regulatory mechanisms involved in the uncoupling of Keap1-Nrf2 complexes. Finally, we summarized the functions of miRNAs in several antioxidant genes. Understanding the crosstalk between miRNAs and oxidative stress-inducing factors during physiological and pathological cellular events may have implications for the design of more effective treatments for immune diseases.

Keywords: microRNA, oxidative stress, ROS, keap1-Nrf2 pathway, antioxidant genes, physiological and pathological responses

Graphical Abstract