Grant: Operating Grant

MicroRNAs are small endogenous non-coding RNA species that play a crucial role in finely tuning gene expression, which is required to maintain homeostasis and to remain healthy. Expressed in the vast majority of eukaryotes, such as humans, animals and plants, microRNAs may regulate ~60% of the genes in human, suggesting that microRNA (de)regulation of gene expression may play a significant role in human health and diseases. Our health status and fitness is largely determined by the composition of our diet. This observation came from studies of the human health benefits of certain foods and diets, especially the Mediterranean diet. However, in most cases, the molecular mechanisms underlying these beneficial effects remain largely unknown. As omnivorous, our diet is extremely diverse and derive essentially from living plants and animal species that contain, in addition to the commonly known nutrients (eg, proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, etc.), genetic material, such as microRNAs. These observations prompted us to hypothesize that microRNAs contained in the food that we ingest may be absorbed by the digestive system, distributed to the organs and cells of our body and influence our health status and fitness through the regulation of specific genes. This proposal aims to validate this "dietary microRNA" hypothesis by addressing several limitations associated to studies that have reported negative findings and by using best suited approaches, adapted and tailored to the reality of microRNAs of dietary origin. Expected to bring novel insights and perspectives to the relationship between nutrition and human health, this proposal may eventually allow us to plan and envision the development of preventive health interventions and medical therapeutic approaches based on the prescription of food containing beneficial microRNAs or the administration of specific microRNAs through the diet.