Identification of long non-coding RNAs as novel biomarker and potential therapeutic target for atrial fibrillation in old adults

Abstract

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a highly prevalent cardiac arrhythmia disease, which widely leads to exacerbate heart failure and ischemic stroke in elder world. Recently, long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), a subclass of noncoding RNAs, have been reported to play critical roles in pathophysiology of cardiac heart. However, little is known of their role in cardiac arrhythmia. In the present study, we investigated the expression levels of lncRNAs of AF patients and healthy people with Agilent Human lncRNA array for the first time. 177 lncRNAs of 78243 and 153 mRNAs of 30215 tested were identified to be differentially expressed (≥ 2-fold change), indicating that the expression of many lncRNAs are upregulated or downregulated in AF. Among these, NONHSAT040387 and NONHSAT098586 were the most upregulated and downregulated lncRNAs. Real time quantitative PCR were employed to validate the microarray analysis findings, and the results confirmed the consistence. GO and KEGG pathway analysis were applied to explore the potential lncRNAs functions, some pathways including oxygen transporter activity and protein heterodimerization activity were speculated to be involved in AF pathogenesis. These results shed some light on lncRNAs' physiologic functions and provide useful information for exploring potential therapeutic treatments for heart rhythm disease.

Circulating Noncoding RNAs as Biomarkers of Cardiovascular Disease and Injury

“…In contrast, plasma profiles of lncRNAs have not been assessed to date. Although first studies unravel differential expression of such ncRNAs in heart tissue of patients with atrial fibrillation, 124 their potential as diagnostic and prognostic biomarker in this field remains elusive.…”

Non-coding RNAs as therapeutic targets for preventing myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury

“…Although cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) remains the gold standard of imaging modality to assess the consequences of acute IRI in AMI patients in terms of MI size and adverse LV remodeling [80][81][82] , this technique is limited in terms of ease of access and availability of skilled personnel to maneuver. The presence of ncRNAs in the serum plasma and bodily fluids, however, offer a window of opportunity to serve as biomarkers in AMI patients [83][84][85] , suggesting the miRNAs may be used to risk stratify AMI patients.…”

Interplay between cardiac transcription factors and non-coding RNAs in predisposing to atrial fibrillation

“…As in the case of miRNAs, lncRNAs could also be potent regulators of AF risk factors [64]. Recently, RNA sequencing of human LA/RA pairs identified an intergenic lncRNA named PITX2 adjacent noncoding RNA (PANCR).…”