Aberrantly expressed lncRNAs in primary varicose great saphenous veins

PLoS One. 2014 Jan 31;9(1):e86156. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0086156. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are key regulatory molecules involved in a variety of biological processes and human diseases. However, the pathological effects of lncRNAs on primary varicose great saphenous veins (GSVs) remain unclear. The purpose of the present study was to identify aberrantly expressed lncRNAs involved in the prevalence of GSV varicosities and predict their potential functions. Using microarray with 33,045 lncRNA and 30,215 mRNA probes, 557 lncRNAs and 980 mRNAs that differed significantly in expression between the varicose great saphenous veins and control veins were identified in six pairs of samples. These lncRNAs were sub-grouped and mRNAs expressed at different levels were clustered into several pathways with six focused on metabolic pathways. Quantitative real-time PCR replication of nine lncRNAs was performed in 32 subjects, validating six lncRNAs (AF119885, AK021444, NR_027830, G36810, NR_027927, uc.345-). A coding-non-coding gene co-expression network revealed that four of these six lncRNAs may be correlated with 11 mRNAs and pathway analysis revealed that they may be correlated with another 8 mRNAs associated with metabolic pathways. In conclusion, aberrantly expressed lncRNAs for GSV varicosities were here systematically screened and validated and their functions were predicted. These findings provide novel insight into the physiology of lncRNAs and the pathogenesis of varicose veins for further investigation. These aberrantly expressed lncRNAs may serve as new therapeutic targets for varicose veins. The Human Ethnics Committee of Shanghai East Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine approved the study (NO.: 2011-DF-53).

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Female
  • Gene Expression Profiling*
  • Gene Ontology
  • Gene Regulatory Networks
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis
  • RNA, Long Noncoding / genetics*
  • RNA, Messenger / genetics
  • Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Saphenous Vein / metabolism*
  • Saphenous Vein / pathology
  • Varicose Veins / genetics*

Substances

  • RNA, Long Noncoding
  • RNA, Messenger

Associated data

  • GEO/GSE51260

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Major International Joint Research Program Fund of China (81120108004), the Foundation for Innovative Research Groups of China (81221001), the National Key Basic Research Program of China (2013CB531100), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31271214, 81100551), the Shanghai Natural Science Fund (10JC1414700), the grant from Shanghai Municipal Natural Science Foundation (11ZR1438600), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (1500219042). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.