TABLE 1.
Categorization of potential influence of milk microRNAs (miRNAs) on health from bibliographic analyses crossed with human milk miRNA detection1
| Function | miRNAs | Rank | Observations | Reference2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lipid metabolism | let-7f-5p, miR-148a-3p, miR-182–5p, miR-22–3p | A | AGPAT6 is regulated by some of the most highly expressed human milk cell miRNAs, and has a direct effect on the synthesis of triacylglycerol and long chain acyl-CoA | Alsaweed et al. 2016 (45) |
| let-7f-5p | A | Modulates FADS2 and involved in oleate biosynthesis | Alsaweed et al. 2016 (45) | |
| miR-33 | C | miR-33a and miR33b are intronic miRNAs located within the SREBP genes; regulate lipid metabolism in concert with their host genes | Goedeke et al. 2013 (57) | |
| miR-26a | A | Regulates insulin sensitivity and metabolism of lipids | Fu et al. 2015 (53) | |
| Glucose metabolism | miR-30a-5p | A | Controls THEM4, which is essential for the phosphorylation and synthesis of fatty acids | Alsaweed et al. 2016 (45) |
| miR-143 | B | Induced transgenic overexpression of miR-143 impairs insulin-stimulated AKT activation and glucose homeostasis | Jordan et al. 2011 (59) | |
| miR-33 | C | Cooperates with SREBP in regulating glucose metabolism by targeting PCK1 and G6PC, key regulatory enzymes of hepatic gluconeogenesis | Ramirez et al. 2013 (60) | |
| miR-26a | A | Regulates insulin sensitivity and metabolism of glucose | Fu et al. 2015 (53) | |
| miR-181b | A | Improves glucose homeostasis and insulin sensitivity by regulating endothelial function in white adipose tissue | Sun et al. 2016 (61) | |
| Gut maturation | miR-375, miR-200c | A | Both modulate epithelial function, which can influence exosomal endocytosis and thus uptake of the miRNAs | Alsaweed et al. 2016 (45) |
| miR-200b | B | Inhibits tight junction disruption of intestinal epithelial cells in vitro | Shen et al. 2017 (62) | |
| miR-21 | A | Regulates intestinal epithelial tight junction permeability | Yang et al. 2013 (63) | |
| miR-99b | A | Inhibits the gene expression of MFG-E8, known to maintain intestinal homeostasis by enhancing enterocyte migration | Wang et al. 2016 (64) | |
| miR-200 family | A–D | Critical gatekeepers of the epithelial state linked to epithelial-mesenchymal transition | Pillman et al. 2018 (65) | |
| miR-30 family | A–D | Control proliferation and differentiation of intestinal epithelial cells | Peck et al. 2016 (66) | |
| Neurogenesis | let-7 family | A–D | Neural differentiation of EC cells was accompanied by an increase in let-7 precursor processing activity | Wulczyn et al. 2007 (67) |
| miR-574 | B | Promotes neurogenesis, but reduces the neural progenitor pool | Zhang et al. 2014 (68) | |
| miR-15b | C | Inhibits cortical neural progenitor cell proliferation and promotes cell-cycle exit and neuronal differentiation | Lv et al. 2014 (69) | |
| miR-210 | C | miR-210 inhibition significantly increased neuronal survival of inflammation but reduced proliferation | Voloboueva et al. 2017 (70) | |
| miR-29b | C | Plays a pivotal role in fetal neurogenesis by regulating VDAC1 | Roshan et al. 2014 (71) | |
| Immunity | miR-223 | C | Activates proliferation of granulocytes | Johnnidis et al. 2008 (72) |
| miR-146b-5p | A | Targets signaling proteins of innate immune responses | Taganov et al. 2006 (73) | |
| miR-181a | A | Regulates inflammation responses in monocytes and macrophages in part by downregulating IL-1α | Xie et al. 2013 (74) | |
| miR-150 | C | Blocks B-cell development | Zhou et al. 2007 (75) | |
| miR-182–5p | A | Promotes T-cell–mediated immune responses | Stittrich et al. 2010 (76) | |
| miR-17, miR-92 | C, A | Regulate monocyte development as well as B- and T-cell differentiation and maturation | Mendell 2008 (77) | |
| miR-29a-3p | A | Suppresses immune responses to intracellular pathogens by targeting IFN-γ | Ma et al. 2011 (78) | |
| miR-155 | C | Regulates T- and B-cell maturation and the innate immune response | Vigorito et al. 2013 (79) |
1
Exosome human milk miRNAs from Liao et al. (48). Abundances of miRNAs in milk are ranked with A > 250.00, 250.00 ≥ B > 150.00, 150.00 ≥ C > 50.00, and 50.00 ≥ D > 0 sum of the total normalized read counts. AGPAT6, 1-acylglycerol-3-phosphate O-acyltransferase 6; AKT, Protein kinase; EC, embryocarcinoma; FADS2, fatty acid desaturase 2; G6PC, Glucose-6-phosphatase Catalitic subunit; MFG-E8, milk fat globule EGF and factor V/VIII domain containing; PCK1, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase 1; SREBP, sterol regulatory element-binding protein; THEM4, thioesterase superfamily member 4; VDAC1, Voltage-dependent anion channel 1.
2
The list of articles reported here is not exhaustive.