Micro-RNA May Identify Dozens Of Diseases

It appears that these tiny bits of non-functional RNA originated with a virus. Sometime many generations ago, the the ancestor of someone who has schizophrenia was infected with a virus. The virus was made of RNA, and to multiply itself and try to take over a cell, it attached itself to the cell's DNA.

For reasons scientists don't know, this particular virus never managed to covert its target cell into a virus factory. It just got stuck in the DNA of a sperm or egg, and that sperm or egg happened to be the sperm or egg that produced a baby. When this happened, the DNA record of the virus was repeated in every cell of the child's body. DNA, in turn, forms a template for RNA, which creates specific protein sequences to make various kinds of enzymes, tissues, hormones, and so on. The DNA that originated with a virus long, long ago creates RNA that can be detected relatively easily with genetic testing.

• Micro-RNA may be a contributing factor in obesity. The body continues to make stem cells throughout life. Most of these cells are intended to replace blood cells or bone cells, but four different kinds of micro-RNA can cause a stem cell intended to become blood or bone to turn into fat.
• Micro-RNA may be a contributing factor to heart disease. When someone has a heart attack, tissue in the heart dies. The heart becomes unable to send an electrical signal through that tissue so that the top of the heart beats first and the bottom of the heart beats last in normal rhythm. Micro-RNA affects the production of conduction factors that determine how mild or severe the problem is when the heart is damaged.
• Micro-RNA may play a special role in cancer. Stem cells are created throughout life to repair tissues, but micro-RNA can cause some stem cells to become cancer stem cells, which create tissues that are resistant to treatment.
• Micro-RNA is connected with cataracts (clouding of the lens of the eye) and progressive hearing loss.

There are different kinds of micro-RNA associated with each condition. There have to be different tests for the different kinds of micro-RNA for each condition. But why is the discovery of micro-RNA important in health care?

Tiny segments of RNA can serve as an early-warning system for diseases. As the technology for rapid analysis of RNA comes on line, it will be no longer necessary to take extensive tissue samples (the definitive test for schizophrenia currently involves a brain biopsy, for example, this test never done while the patient is still alive), to spend hours eliminating other possible diagnoses, or to delay treatment. While it's the nose that "knows" the presence of schizophrenia, simple blood tests or mouth swabs may be all that is required to diagnosis many more conditions on the basis of micro-RNA.