Imbalances in RNA metabolic networks in vascular lesions associated with diabetes and sarcopenia

Table 1 The regulatory functions of non-coding RNA and epigenetic modifications

NcRNA/modification	Expression pattern	Target genes	Downstream signaling pathways	Mainly affects cell/tissue	Experimental model
miR-126	Early-stage diabetes ↑ late-stage ↓	Genes associated with the VEGF pathway, SPRED1, PIK3R2	VEGF/PI3K-AKT/eNOS angiogenesis pathway	Endothelial cells, skeletal muscle cells	Animal models of vascular injury
miR-155	↑	SOCS1, SHIP1	NF-κB	Macrophages	In vitro and animal models of diabetes-related inflammation
miR-146a	↓ or lacks functionality	IRAK1, TRAF6	NF-κB negative feedback regulation	Macrophages	In vitro and animal models of diabetes-related inflammation
MALAT1	Diabetic vascular damage ↑	VEGF, inflammatory factors	ceRNA, epigenetic regulation	Endothelial cells, skeletal muscle	In vitro and animal models of diabetic microvascular disease
GAS5	Abnormal expression	Inflammation-related genes	ceRNA	Cardiovascular tissue	Human clinical samples
circRNA-ceRNA network	↑ or ↓	Multiple miRNAs	Genes involved in angiogenesis, inflammation and calcification	Endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells	Human clinical samples
m6A modification	Abnormally ↑/↓	MyoD mRNA	METTL3, FTO	Myosatellite cells	Human clinical samples
	↑	eNOS mRNA	YTHDF2	Endothelial cells	In vitro high-glucose endothelial cell model
m6A-RBP network	Abnormal expression	Inflammation, EMT-related mRNA	RBPs	Renal tubules, blood vessels	Human model of diabetic nephropathy

VEGF: Vascular endothelial growth factor; PI3K: Phosphoinositide 3-kinase; AKT: Protein kinase B; eNOS: Endothelial nitric oxide synthase; NF-κB: Nuclear factor kappa B; MALAT1: Metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1; ceRNA: Competing endogenous RNA; GAS5: Growth arrest-specific 5; circRNA: Circular RNA; MyoD: Myoblast determination protein 1; RBP: RNA-binding protein; EMT: Epithelial-mesenchymal transition; RBPs: RNA-binding proteins; YTHDF2: YTH domain-containing family protein 2.