Özet:

tion. Worldwide, cardiovascular diseases represent the first cause of morbidity and mortality. The genetic contribution in this pathology is heterogenous, and the microenvironment-genes interactions (mediated by epigenetic mechanisms) influence the prevalence of the diseases. The objective of the study was to find the micro ribonucleic acids (miRNAs) that alter gene expression in endothelial progenitor cells, to reveal the regulation mechanisms involved and to clarify the function of miRNAs in endothelial cell differentiation, that may facilitate the improvement of angiogenesis and stem cell-based therapies in cardiovascular disease. Material and methods. The differentiation of endothelial progenitor cells from amniotic fluid stem cells was done by using endothelial specific media, followed by characterization with Real-time PCR, flow-cytometry, LDL-uptake assay, and Matrigel network formation. PCR array was used to analyse the expression of 84 miRNAs to identify molecular markers for certain stem cells and/or specific stem cell differentiation processes. Results.The results obtained using PCR array technique showed a significantly increased expression for miRNA-106b-5p, miRNA-155-5p, miRNA-126-3p, miRNA-22-3p and a decrease in miRNA-let7e-5p expression, miRNA125a -5p, miRNA-125b-5p, miRNA-92a-3p. Conclusions. Upregulation or antagonization of certain circulating miRNAs may represent promising therapeutic strategies in the cardiovascular diseases management. Furthermore, establishing the role of circulating miRNAs as biomarkers and independent predictors of cardiovascular disease outcome, correlated with the medical and surgical treatment, could improve the patients’ lifespan. Keywords: cardiovascular disease, epigenetics, microRNAs, biomarkers, cell therapies.

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