Analysis of lncRNA-mRNA expression pattern in male textile workers with noise-induced hearing loss

Extracellular long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) has attracted increasing attention as a potential biomarker to indicate disease status and physiological process. It plays a unique role in pathogenesis, and may be a new potential biomarker, especially for chronic hearing loss. Early screening of NIHL susceptible population is of great significance in reducing the incidence of NIHL.

The expression profiles of lncRNAs and mRNAs in serum of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) and exposure groups were detected by microarray technique in serum. The differentially expressed mRNAs was analyzed by GO and KEGG to identify related biological functions and signaling pathways. The top up-regulated and down regulated lncRNAs were identified by qRT-PCR.

A total of 2,072 differentially expressed lncRNAs (889 up-regulated and 1,183 down-regulated) were included in NIHL subjects compared to exposed group by using microarrays. GO enrichment and KEGG pathway analysis showed that the expression pattern of mRNAs in serum of NIHL was associated with noise exposure. LncRNAs were verified by qRT-PCR, namely, LOC101928211, LOC101928804, and BANCR. The expression of LOC101928211 and LOC101928804 in the NIHL group was significantly higher than that in the exposed group, while the expression of BANCR was obviously decreased (P<0.001).

In this study, lncRNAs and mRNAs expression profile in NIHL was preliminarily investigated in silico. The newly discovered lncRNAs might be involved in the pathological process of hearing loss and may serve as potential biomarkers to indicate long-term noise exposure-induced hearing loss.