Identification and functional prediction of long non-coding RNA and mRNA related to connective tissue disease-associated interstitial lung diseases

• Published in: Rheumatology and immunology research Vol. 4; no. 4; pp. 204 - 215
• Main Authors: Dai, Fei, He, Yixi, Lei, Tianyi, Jiang, Yi, Zhang, Quanbo, Qing, Yufeng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany De Gruyter 19.12.2023
• Subjects: connective tissue disease-associated interstitial lung disease; functional analysis; long non-coding RNA; microarray analysis; Original; long non-coding RNA; microarray analysis; connective tissue disease-associated interstitial lung disease; functional analysis
• ISSN: 2719-4523; 2719-4523
• DOI: 10.2478/rir-2023-0030

Recently, the role of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) in rheumatic immune diseases has attracted widespread attention. However, knowledge of lncRNA in connective tissue disease-associated interstitial lung disease (CTD-ILD) is limited. This study explored the expression profile and possible mechanisms of lncRNA and mRNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of CTD-ILD patients, especially systemic sclerosis (SSc)-ILD and rheumatoid arthritis (RA)-ILD. LncRNA microarray analysis identified 240 diferentially expressed lncRNAs and 218 diferentially expressed mRNA in the CTD-ILD group and the connective tissue disease without associated interstitial lung disease (CTD-NILD) group. The bioinformatics analysis of diferential genes has identified several important biological processes and signal pathways, including nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kappa B) signaling pathway, interleukin 17 (IL-17) signaling pathway, B cell receptor signaling pathway. Relative expression levels of five diferentially expressed lncRNAs and one mRNA in 120 SSc and RA patients with or without ILD were detected by quantitative reverse-transcription (PCR). The expression level was significantly higher in the ILD than the without interstitial lung disease (NILD) group; and arginase-1 were significantly higher in SSc than RA group. These data suggest that the specific profile of lncRNA in PBMCs of CTD-ILD patients and the potential signal pathways related to the pathogenesis of CTD-ILD, which may provide newfound insights for the diagnosis and treatment of CTD-ILD patients.