Differential expression profile of long non-coding RNA in the stenosis tissue of arteriovenous fistula

To analyze and preliminarily validate the lncRNA expression profiles in the stenosis tissue of arteriovenous fistula (AVF).

A total of 54 uremic patients administered in the department of nephrology in the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University between February 2017 and March 2017 were included in the study and subsequently categorized as experimental group, which included 12 patients with confirmed diagnosis of AVF, and control group which included 42 patients with no vascular stenosis. The experimental group inclusion criteria include: AVF used >3 months; The blood flow of AVF <200 mL/min; the degree of the stenosis was >50%, excluded obvious thrombosis; The ultrasonographic data of AVF stenosis is complete. The controls were randomly selected from uremic patients who were primary AVF operation, excluded obvious vascular stenosis and vascular diseases. Among them, 4 sample in the experimental group and 4 controls were used in LncRNA sequencing. RNA in vascular tissue was extracted by Trizol and IncRNA sequencing was used to establish the expression profiles of lncRNA in the stenosis tissue of AVF.9 difference expression lncRNA were collected for validating in AVF stenosis cases by using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Moreover, Cluster analysis, gene functional analysis and pathway analysis were used to explore the function of difference expression lncRNA.

Among the 27,692 lncRNA transcripts examined, 247 lncRNAs were found to be significantly differentially expressed (P < 0.05, fold change ≥2) in the experimental group and control group, with 141 being up-regulated and 106 down-regulated. The expression levels of 9 lncRNAs validated by subsequent qRT-PCR were shown to be highly consistent with the sequencing data.

Our study revealed lncRNAs expression profiles in the stenosis tissue of AVF by LncRNA sequencing. These lncRNAs and its related signaling pathways may play a key role in the occurrence and progression of AVF stenosis.