NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) — Rosetta Genomics has added congenital neonatal cardiovascular disease to a collaboration with the New York University School of Medicine that was originally created to use miRNA technology to develop cancer diagnostics, the company said today.
Rehovot, Israel-based Rosetta Genomics said the research will screen for specific miRNA biomarkers and signatures that could help diagnose or target congenital heart disease in newborns.
Around 40,000, or one out of every 125, US infants are born with CHD, which is caused by the improper development of vessels near the heart, the company said.
"It is now clear that microRNAs play a key role in controlling diverse aspects of cardiac development and response to disease," David Meyer, director of the Pediatric and Congenital Cardiothoracic Surgery at NYU, said in a statement.
“Recent studies have revealed key roles of microRNAs as regulators of growth, development, function, and responses to stress in the heart,” Rosetta Genomics said, adding that these “regulatory mechanisms may serve as potential diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets for the treatment of heart disease.”
Financial terms of the expanded agreement were not released.