Integrated analysis of the lncRNA-associated ceRNA network in Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that worsens with age. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) dysregulation and its associated competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network have a potential connection with the occurrence and development of AD. A total of 358 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were screened via RNA sequencing, including 302 differentially expressed mRNAs (DEmRNAs) and 56 differential expressed lncRNAs (DElncRNAs). Anti-sense lncRNA is the main type of DElncRNA, which plays a major role in the cis and trans regulation. The constructed ceRNA network consisted of 4 lncRNAs (NEAT1, LINC00365, FBXL19-AS1, RAI1-AS1719) and 4 microRNAs (miRNAs) (HSA-Mir-27a-3p, HSA-Mir-20b-5p, HSA-Mir-17-5p, HSA-Mir-125b-5p), and 2 mRNAs (MKNK2, F3). Functional enrichment analysis revealed that DEmRNAs are involved in related biological functions of AD. The co-expressed DEmRNAs (DNAH11, HGFAC, TJP3, TAC1, SPTSSB, SOWAHB, RGS4, ADCYAP1) of humans and mice were screened and verified by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). In this study, we analyzed the expression profile of human AD-related lncRNA genes, constructed a ceRNA network, and performed functional enrichment analysis of DEmRNAs between human and mice. The obtained gene regulatory networks and target genes can be used to further analyze AD-related pathological mechanisms to optimize AD diagnosis and treatment.