Research advances in miRNAs in regulating apoptosis of vascular endothelial cells

Endothelial cell apoptosis is the initiating factor of vascular endothelial injury and pathological basis of a variety of cardiovascular diseases. Regulatory mechanism of vascular endothelial cell apoptosis has become an international and domestic research hotspot. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of endogenous non-coding single-stranded RNAs with 18-25 nucleotides in length. They participate in the functional regulation of endothelial cells by regulating gene expression mainly through binding to specific mRNA 3' untranslated region (3'-UTR) of target genes. This review summarizes the research progress of miRNAs in the regulation of apoptosis in vascular endothelial cells.