The prognostic value of N6-methylandenosine-related long non-coding RNAs (m6Arelated lncRNAs) was investigated in 646 lower-grade glioma (LGG) samples from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the Chinese Glioma Genome Atlas (CGGA) datasets. We implemented Pearson correlation analysis to explore the m6A-related lncRNAs, and then univariate Cox regression analysis was performed to screen their prognostic roles in LGG patients. Twenty-four prognostic m6A-related lncRNAs were identified as prognostic lncRNAs and they were inputted in a least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) Cox regression to establish a m6A-related lncRNA prognostic signature (m6A-LPS, including 9 m6A-related prognostic lncRNAs) in the TCGA dataset. Corresponding risk scores of patients were calculated and divided LGG patients into low-and high-risk subgroups by the median value of risk scores in each dataset. The m6A-LPS was validated in the CGGA dataset and it showed a robust prognostic ability in the stratification analysis. Principal component analysis showed that the low-and high-risk subgroups had distinct m6A status. Enrichment analysis indicated that malignancy-associated biological processes, pathways and hallmarks were more common in the high-risk subgroup. Moreover, we constructed a nomogram (based on m6A-LPS, age and World Health Organization grade) that had a strong ability to forecast the overall survival (OS) of the LGG patients in both datasets. We also establish a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network based on seven of the twenty-four m6A-related lncRNAs. Besides, we also detected five m6A-related lncRNA expression levels in 22 clinical samples using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction assay.

Despite presence of circulating retina-specific T cells in healthy individuals, ocular immune privilege usually averts development of autoimmune uveitis. To study the breakdown of immune privilege and development of disease, we generated transgenic (Tg) mice that express a T cell receptor (TCR) specific for interphotoreceptor retinoid-binding protein (IRBP), which serves as an autoimmune target in uveitis induced by immunization. Three lines of TCR Tg mice, with different levels of expression of the transgenic R161 TCR and different proportions of IRBP-specific CD4+ T cells in their peripheral repertoire, were successfully established. Importantly, two of the lines rapidly developed spontaneous uveitis, reaching 100% incidence by 2 and 3 months of age, respectively, whereas the third appeared “poised” and only developed appreciable disease upon immune perturbation. Susceptibility roughly paralleled expression of the R161 TCR. In all three lines, peripheral CD4+ T cells displayed a naïve phenotype, but proliferated in vitro in response to IRBP and elicited uveitis upon adoptive transfer. In contrast, CD4+ T cells infiltrating uveitic eyes mostly showed an effector/memory phenotype, and included Th1, Th17 as well as T regulatory cells that appeared to have been peripherally converted from conventional CD4+ T cells rather than thymically derived. Thus, R161 mice provide a new and valuable model of spontaneous autoimmune disease that circumvents the limitations of active immunization and adjuvants, and allows to study basic mechanisms involved in maintenance and breakdown of immune homeostasis affecting immunologically privileged sites such as the eye.