Due to the versatility and wide-reaching regulatory power of miRNAs, we expect the future development of novel knockdown and/or overexpression strategies targeting the activity of specific miRNAs, in an effort to prevent or even reverse addiction. Yet, many issues need to be addressed in order to better understand how miRNAs perform their functions and how they could be exploited to combat alcohol abuse. We wonder, for example, whether minor sequence variations in members of miRNA families affect their target specificity and biological function, and whether miRNA family members exist to exert redundant control over specific targets, to fine-tune their post-transcriptional regulation, or to exert a combination of both types of control. We also wonder whether we could unleash the fine-tuning regulatory potential of miRNAs by exploiting the combinatorial capability of miRNA targeting.
