SMAD4 and metabolic syndrome: A manual search through the PubMed database showed at least 15 of these miRNAs to be possibly associated with MetS pathogenesis in cardiac tissue due to direct or indirect regulation of expression of mRNAs for proteins involved in angiogenesis (VEGF-A, Tie-2, AKT-3, SEMA6A, Sprouty2, IGF-1, KLF2, KLF4, endoglin, angiopoietin-2), fibrosis/extracellular matrix deposition (TGFβR2, SMAD4, Wnt, elastin, collagen, fibronectin, Snail1), inflammation (PPARα, IL-1, IL-6, TNFα, VCAM-1, NFκB), or lymphangiogenesis (Prox-1) (Table 1).