Background
This study aimed to investigate the correlation of long non‐coding RNA antisense non‐coding RNA in the INK4 locus (lncRNA ANRIL) and its target microRNAs (microRNA‐34a (miR‐34a) and microRNA‐125a (miR‐125a)) with disease risk and severity of Parkinson’s disease (PD).
Methods
Seventy‐eight PD patients and 78 age‐/gender‐matched controls were consecutively enrolled. Their peripheral blood mononuclear cell samples were collected and proposed for the reverse‐transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction to complete lncRNA ANRIL, miR‐34a, and miR‐125a measurements.
Results
LncRNA ANRIL was upregulated, while miR‐34a and miR‐125a were downregulated in PD patients compared to controls (all p < 0.001). Further, they all showed certain values for PD risk identification by ROC curve analyses, among which lncRNA ANRIL showed the highest AUC (AUC: 0.879, 95% CI: 0.824‐0.934). Furthermore, lncRNA ANRIL negatively correlated with miR‐34a (p = 0.016) and miR‐125a (p = 0.005) in PD patients, but not in controls. In addition, lncRNA ANRIL was observed to positively associate with UPDRS‐I score (p = 0.029), UPDRS‐III score (p = 0.006), and UPDRS‐IV score (p = 0.033), while negatively correlated with MMSE score (p = 0.003). These associations were less distinct as to miR‐34a and miR‐125a.
Conclusion
LncRNA ANRIL interacts with miR‐34a and miR‐125a in PD patients, and they all correlate with disease risk and severity of PD.