Epilepsy Is Associated With Dysregulation of Long Non-coding RNAs in the Peripheral Blood

Abstract

Background: Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a group of functional transcripts that are not translated to proteins. Recent investigations have underscored their role in the pathogenesis of neurodevelopmental disorders.Methods: In the current investigation, we quantified expression levels of four lncRNAs (HOXA-AS2, SPRY4-IT1, MEG3, and LINC-ROR) in peripheral blood of epileptic patients and normal controls.Results: Expression of HOXA-AS2 was significantly higher in patients compared with controls (Posterior beta = 1.982, P = 0.001). We detected interaction effects of gender on expression of HOXA-AS2 (P = 0.012). Further analyses showed over-expression of HOXA-AS2 in male patients compared with male controls (P = 0.003), in spite of similar levels of expression between female cases and female controls (P = 0.77). Expression of SPRY4-IT1 was higher in total patients compared with total controls (Posterior beta = 1.27, P = 0.02). Such difference was only observed between male patients and male controls when dividing study participants based on their gender (P = 0.012). There was no significant difference in expression of MEG3 and LINC-ROR between patients and controls.Conclusion: Expression levels of all lncRNAs were correlated with each other with r values ranging from 0.61 to 0.76 (P < 0.0001). However, expressions of none of lncRNAs were correlated with age of study participants. The current data implies a putative role for two lncRNAs in the pathogenesis of epilepsy and warrants future functional studies to verify the observed association.

Role of long noncoding RNAs; BDNF-AS and 17A and their relation to GABAergic dysfunction in Egyptian epileptic patients

“…LncRNAs have emerged as regulatory molecules involved in a wide variety of biological processes. A rising number of studies revealed that they were dysregulated during epileptogenesis (Shao et al 2017, Hashemian et al 2019, Villa et al 2019. Interestingly, this current study was the first to investigate the usefulness of serum lncRNAs; BDNF-AS and 17A expressions as diagnostic biomarker of epilepsy.…”

Liquid Biopsies in Epilepsy: Biomarkers for Etiology, Diagnosis, Prognosis, and Therapeutics

“…An additional study focused on four specific lncRNAs in peripheral blood of patients versus controls (N = 40 per group) -HOXA-AS2, SPRY4-IT1, MEG3, and LINC-ROR. Two out of the four lncRNAs, HOXA-AS2 (Posterior beta = 1.982, P = 0.001) and SPRY4-IT1 (Posterior beta = 1.27, P = 0.02), had increased expression when comparing between patient and control groups [65]. More research is necessary to interpret the use of lncRNAs as an epilepsy biomarker.…”

Non-Coding RNAs: New Biomarkers and Therapeutic Targets for Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

“…The study of Hashemian et al considers four specific lncRNAs in the peripheral blood of patients compared to controls (N = 40 per group): HOXA-AS2, SPRY4-IT1, MEG3 and LINC-ROR. In particular, lncRNAs, HOXA-AS2 and SPRY4-IT1 showed greater expression in the comparison between the patient and control groups [ 83 ]. Another study used human peripheral blood from TLE patients and compared the lncRNA ILF3-AS1 levels between serum and hippocampal tissues.…”