AngiomiRs: Potential Biomarkers of Pregnancy's Vascular Pathologies

In recent years, microRNAs (miRNAs) have been the focus of research for their role in posttranscriptional regulation and as potential biomarkers of risk for disease development. Their identification in specific physiological processes, like angiogenesis, a key pathway in placental vascular development in pregnancy, suggests an important role of miRNAs that regulate angiogenesis (angiomiRs). Many complications of pregnancy have in common placental vascular alterations, involving an imbalance in the angiogenesis process in the development of conditions such as preeclampsia, intrauterine growth restriction, and gestational diabetes, complications with the highest rates of morbimortality in pregnancy. Many studies have identified angiomiRs with differential expression profiles in each of these diseases; however, this evidence requires further studies focused on evaluating their potential as biomarkers of risk for the angiomiRs detected, to establish correlations between placental tissue and serum/plasma expression profiles. Therefore, the objective of this review is to highlight the best angiomiRs detected in placental tissue and serum/plasma in each of these three pathologies to show the current data available for potential biomarkers and to propose future research strategies on this topic. © 2015 Laura María Rodríguez Santa et al.