Integrative analysis of an lncRNA‑associated competing endogenous RNA network in human trabecular meshwork cells...

Long non‑coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a group of non‑coding transcripts of >200 nucleotides. They can act as competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs) and suppress microRNA (miRNA) function by preventing them from binding to and interacting with target mRNAs. However, the specific role of the lncRNA‑associated ceRNA network in the pathogenesis of glaucoma has not yet been elucidated. To study this, data were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus database (GSE126170), which contained three human trabecular meshwork cell (HTMC) samples treated with 300 µm hydrogen peroxide and three control samples treated with vehicle. Differentially expressed lncRNAs and mRNAs of HTMCs were obtained using the R package limma. Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway analyses of differentially expressed mRNAs were performed using the R package clusterProfiler. Finally, the ceRNA network was constructed using the mircode, miRDB, miRTarBase and TargetScan databases, and visualized using Cytoscape v3.6.1. The results showed that 70 lncRNAs and 558 mRNAs were identified to be significantly dysregulated (|log2FoldChange| >1 and adjusted P<0.05) in HTMCs under oxidative stress compared to those in HTMCs under control conditions. Moreover, 24 lncRNAs, 24 miRNAs and 40 mRNAs were closely connected, and were part of the ceRNA network. Among these, the expression levels of 19 lncRNAs were upregulated, and those of 5 lncRNAs were downregulated. To conclude, using bioinformatics analysis, the differential expression profiles of lncRNAs were reported and a lncRNA‑associated ceRNA network in HTMCs under oxidative stress was constructed. These results may bring to light a new pathological mechanism or a potential therapeutic target for glaucoma.