Abstract
Purpose :
Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are emering as important regulators in cellular processes and have been showed to be involved in the occurance and development of various diseases including glaucoma. The aim of this study is to reveal disease-related extracellular lncRNAs and message RNAs (mRNAs) in aqueous humor (AH) of individual glaucoma patients and to determine whether lncRNA-T267384, lncRN-ENST00000607393 and lncRN-T342877 can be potential biomakers for glaucoma diagnosis.
Methods :
The lncRNA and mRNA expression profiles in 100μl of AH from 10 glaucoma patients and 10 age-matched controls (patients underwent cataract surgery) were determined through microarray analysis. Coding-non-coding gene co-expression networks (CNC networks) were drawn based on the correlation analysis between the differentially expressed lncRNAs and mRNAs to predict potential functions of lncRNAs. Furthermore, expression of lncRNA-T267384, lncRNA-ENST00000607393 and lncRNA-T342877 were determined through quantitative real-time PCR in AH from 30 glaucoma and 30 age-matched cataract patients, and in plasma from 30 glaucoma patients and 30 healthy controls.
Results :
We showed that on average 20653±569.9 lncRNAs and 11265±268.3 mRNAs can be detected in each AH sample. Among them, 10315 lncRNAs and 6686 mRNAs were detected in all glaucoma patients and control subjects. Compared to controls, we found that 4273 lncRNAs and 2783 mRNAs were significantly up-regulated, and 2602 lncRNAs and 1617 mRNAs were significantly down-regulated. The CNC network analysis indicated that lncRNA-T267384, lncRNA-ENST00000607393 and lncRNA-T342877 might possess similar function to mRNAs of ependymin related 1 (EPDR1) and bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) that plays important roles in glaucoma. Furthermore, expression levels of lncRNA-T267384 and lncRNA-ENST00000607393 were significantly higher in the AH of glaucoma patients (3.43x and 4.34x, respectively) and in their plasma (2.87x and 3.21x, respectively) compared to their corresponding controls.
Conclusions :
AH is a rich source of lncRNAs that can potentially serve as therapeutic targets or diagnostic markers. LncRNA-T267384 and lncRNA-ENST00000607393 can be potential biomakers for glaucoma diagnosis.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2017 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Baltimore, MD, May 7-11, 2017.