Reacción a "Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology awarded to Ambros and Ruvkun for the discovery of microRNAs and their role in gene regulation"

This Nobel Prize highlights the enormous relevance of microRNAs (miRNAs) in the post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression, a rapidly growing field with direct applications in precision medicine, thanks to advances in RNA therapeutics. Some of these advances have been recognised with Nobel prizes in previous years. Following the success of RNA vaccines administered to millions of people, RNA therapeutics has been shown to be an area full of promising possibilities. MicroRNAs, studied since the 1980s by Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun, who were postdoctoral fellows in the laboratory of Robert Horvitz - Nobel laureate in 2002 along with Sydney Brenner and John Sulston for their discoveries on the genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death - continue to reveal mechanisms fundamental to modern biology and medicine.

miRNAs are small non-coding RNA molecules, approximately 22 nucleotides in length, that regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. These miRNAs act by binding to complementary sequences in the messenger RNA of specific genes, leading to their degradation or the inhibition of their translation, thus blocking protein production. This gene silencing mechanism is essential for the control of key biological processes, such as cell development, differentiation, and response to stress or disease, and is implicated in the regulation of multiple diseases, from cancer to cardiovascular diseases, which represent the leading cause of global mortality.

In addition, the identification of specific profiles of circulating miRNAs in blood is showing great potential for the early detection of difficult-to-diagnose cancers, such as pancreatic and lung cancer. Recent studies indicate that miRNAs could be used as biomarkers in cardiovascular diseases such as myocarditis, atherosclerosis, hypertension and cardiac fibrosis.

This recognition of Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun reinforces the importance of miRNAs, opening doors to therapeutic and diagnostic applications that could transform the management of devastating diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular pathologies.