Analysis of long non-coding RNA expression profiles in high-glucose treated vascular endothelial cells

Abstract

Background: Diabetes mellitus is often associated with microvascular and macrovascular lesions, and hyperglycemia-induced vascular endothelial cell damage is a key factor. Methods: We investigated long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and mRNAs that are affected by hyperglycemiainduced damage using human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) as a model. HUVECs were cultured under high (25 mmol/L) or normal (5 mmol/L) glucose conditions for 6 d, and then lncRNAs and protein-coding transcripts were profiled by RNA-seq. Result: Among 40,379 lncRNAs screened, 214 were upregulated (log2 [fold-change] > 1, FDR < 0.05) and 197 were downregulated (log2 [fold-change] < − 1, FDR < 0.05) in response to high-glucose. Furthermore, among 28,431 proteincoding genes screened, 778 were upregulated and 998 were downregulated. A total of 945 lncRNA/mRNA pairs were identified, including 126 differentially expressed lncRNAs predicted to target 201 mRNAs, among which 26 were cisregulatory interactions. The corresponding lncRNA-mRNA network was composed of 354 lncRNA nodes, 1167 mRNA nodes and 9735 edges. Dozens of lncRNAs with high degree may play important roles in high-glucose-induced HUVEC damage, including ENST00000600527,

Long Non-Coding RNAs Gene Variants as Molecular Markers for Diabetic Retinopathy Risk and Response to Anti-VEGF Therapy

“…2 Healthy endothelial cells are the basis of normal blood vessels, whereas endothelial cell dysfunction is a risk indicator of diabetic angiopathy. 3 Accumulating evidence indicated that diabetes-related microvascular complications result from genetic and environmental interactions. 4,5 Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), which are >200 nucleotides in length, are emerging regulatory non-coding RNAs, participate in epigenetic and transcriptional/ post-transcriptional regulation of several cellular pathways in different diseases, including DM and its complications.…”

Emerging Roles of Long Non-Coding RNAs in Diabetic Foot Ulcers

“…Xu et al characterized the lncRNA landscape of expression, and found that 214 lncRNAs were upregulated and 197 were downregulated in highglucose cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). 62 Further research should focus on these dysregulated lncRNAs to provide novel insights into the regulatory molecules of diabetes-induced endothelial dysfunction. Hyperglycemic conditions also cause damage to endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs).…”

Epigenetic Regulation of the Vascular Endothelium by Angiogenic LncRNAs

“…The majority of lncRNAs that have been identified and characterized have been in diseases. This include cancers (Jin et al, 2020;Teppan et al, 2020;Zhou et al, 2020;Katsushima et al, 2021), diabetes (Taheri et al, 2020;Xu E. et al, 2020;Ismail et al, 2021), cardiovascular diseases (Fang et al, 2020;Meng et al, 2020;Yeh et al, 2020) and ischemic stroke (Gan et al, 2021;Wolska et al, 2021). In this section, we will focus on angiogenic lncRNAs enriched in disease and their epigenetic functions.…”