Microarray Analysis of Long Noncoding RNAs in Female Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy Patients

Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is the most common complication of diabetes mellitus (DM). Because of its controversial pathogenesis, DPN is still not diagnosed or managed properly in most patients.

In this study, human lncRNA microarrays were used to identify the differentially expressed lncRNAs in DM and DPN patients, and some of the discovered lncRNAs were further validated in additional 78 samples by quantitative realtime PCR (qRT-PCR).

The microarray analysis identified 446 and 1327 differentially expressed lncRNAs in DM and DPN, respectively. The KEGG pathway analysis further revealed that the differentially expressed lncRNA-coexpressed mRNAs between DPN and DM groups were significantly enriched in the MAPK signaling pathway. The lncRNA/mRNA coexpression network indicated that BDNF and TRAF2 correlated with 6 lncRNAs. The qRT-PCR confirmed the initial microarray results.

These findings demonstrated that the interplay between lncRNAs and mRNA may be involved in the pathogenesis of DPN, especially the neurotrophin-MAPK signaling pathway, thus providing relevant information for future studies.