Plasma microRNAs serve as biomarkers of therapeutic efficacy and disease progression in hypertension-induced heart failure.

Aims: Recent studies have shown that microRNAs (miRNAs), besides being potent regulators of gene expression, can additionally serve as circulating biomarkers of disease. The aim of this study is to determine if plasma miRNAs can be used as indicators of disease progression or therapeutic efficacy in hypertension-induced heart disease.

Methods And Results: In order to define circulating miRNAs that change during hypertension-induced heart failure and that respond to therapeutic treatment, we performed miRNA arrays on plasma RNA from hypertensive rats that show signs of heart failure.