Intracellular RNA biomarker

Intracellular RNA biomarkers refer collectively to RNA molecules measured within cells whose abundance, sequence, or modification state provides insight into cellular status, disease states, or response to therapy. These biomarkers include messenger RNAs (mRNAs), microRNAs (miRNAs), long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), circular RNAs (circRNAs), and others. Unlike protein-based markers, RNAs can provide highly dynamic, cell-type-specific, and regulatory information, useful for early detection and stratification of diseases such as cancer, inflammatory disorders, neurological diseases, and cardiovascular disease. They are not “targets” in the sense of being a single drug-binding entity (e.g., a receptor or enzyme); rather, they are a class of molecular features used for diagnostic and prognostic purposes and have, in some cases, been leveraged as therapeutic targets (e.g., antisense or RNAi drugs against pathogenic RNAs). The group is highly heterogeneous—each specific biomarker will belong to a particular RNA subclass and have specific disease and functional annotations. Key point: "Intracellular RNA biomarkers" as a search term is not a single, canonical target molecule or receptor, but a large group of possible RNA species that can each serve as cellular indicators for research, diagnosis, or sometimes therapy.

Other names

RNA biomarkersintracellular non-coding RNA biomarkerintracellular miRNA biomarkerintracellular lncRNA biomarkerintracellular circRNA biomarker

For RNA-targeting drugs, mechanisms include RNA interference (RNAi), antisense inhibition, modifying RNA stability or splicing, RNA/protein interaction disruption, and modulation of regulatory RNA activity