Reverse cholesterol transport-related miRNAs and their regulation by natural functional compounds

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the biggest killer globally and atherosclerosis (AS) is the major trigger to this pathology. Abnormal cholesterol homeostasis is the starting point of AS, especially the aggregation of macrophage foam cells in the intra-arterial subcutaneous region. Reverse cholesterol transport (RCT) can remove excess cholesterol from macrophages and transport it to the liver for excretion, making this process vital to alleviate AS. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, noncoding RNAs that play critical roles in various diseases including AS, by regulating post-transcriptional gene expression. Many natural compounds can exert anti-atherosclerotic effects by regulating different miRNAs that are implicated in RCT. Hence, targeting these miRNAs using natural functional compounds may be a safe, novel, and promising strategy to prevent and treat AS. This review describes the miRNAs involved in RCT and the potential uses of natural compounds to target RCT-related miRNAs to modulate AS.