Integrated network analysis to explore the key mRNAs and lncRNAs in acute myocardial infarction

Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is the most severe cardiovascular event in the world. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying AMI remained largely unclear. Recently, long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) were reported to play important roles in human diseases. In the present work, we analyzed a public dataset GSE48060 to confirm key lncRNAs and mRNAs in AMI. We observed 4835 mRNAs and 442 lncRNAs were significantly differently expressed in AMI. Then, we for the first time constructed PPI networks and lncRNA co-expression networks in AMI. The protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks revealed several mRNAs such as RHOA, GNB1, GNG, RAC1, FBXO32, DET1, MEX3C and HECTD1 functioned as key regulators in AMI. LncRNA co-expression network analysis showed 8 lncRNAs (CA5BP1, LOC101927608, BZRAP1-AS1, EBLN3, FGD5-AS1, HNRNPU-AS1, LINC00342, and LOC101927204) played key roles in AMI. Gene ontology (GO) analysis demonstrated these differently expressed lncRNAs were associated with more signaling pathways, such as regulating transcription, protein amino acid phosphorylation, signal transduction, development. Taken together, our research unveiled a series of key lncRNAs and mRNAs in AMI. Several lncRNAs, including CA5BP1, LOC101927608, BZRAP1-AS1, EBLN3, FGD5-AS1, HNRNPU-AS1, LINC00342, and LOC101927204 were identified as key lncRNAs. PPI networks were constructed to reveal key mRNAs in AMI. These results provided useful information for exploring novel molecular target therapy for AMI.