MicroRNA — Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2024. Great things have small beginnings
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33910/2687-1270-2025-6-1-20-25Keywords:
microRNA, gene regulation, Nobel Prize, cognitive functions, neurodegeneration, developmental biology, diseases, C. elegansAbstract
The 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for their discovery of microRNA-mediated gene regulation, using Caenorhabditis elegans as a model organism. This review examines the discovery’s historical context and subsequent advances in understanding microRNA functions across species, from protozoa to humans. We highlight their crucial regulatory roles in organismal development and cognition, particularly in long-term memory formation and neurodegenerative processes underlying Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s, and Parkinson’s diseases, as well as senile dementia. Emerging evidence demonstrates microRNAs’ diagnostic and therapeutic potential for these neurological disorders, along with cancer, diabetes mellitus, and cardiovascular diseases. Remarkably, these fundamental insights originating from nematode research have yielded transformative biomedical applications with far-reaching implications for human health.
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