Investigation of Some Long Noncoding RNAs (LncRNAs) in Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD): An Iranian Study

Introduction: According to the importance of long noncoding RNAs (LncRNA) in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and also the lack of study for pediatric IBD in this regard, we investigated the expression of a selected panel of LncRNAs in Iranian pediatric cases of IBD compared to adult cases and healthy samples. Methods: In this gene expression study, blood samples were taken from the three groups of pediatric IBD cases, adult IBD cases, and pediatric healthy samples (for gene expression calibration). The investigated LncRNAs were UCA1, CCAT, IFNG-AS1, and CDKN2B. Real-time PCR was used and fold changes (FCs) were reported. Results: A total of 50 individuals were studied including 28 cases of pediatric IBD, 12 cases of controls, and 10 cases of adult IBD. UCA1 showed upregulation in adult IBD (FC = 10.56, p = 0.007). CCAT showed downregulations for pediatric IBD (FC = 0.01, p < 0.001) and adult IBD (FC = 0.10, p = 0.039). IFNG-AS1 showed downregulation in pediatric IBD (FC < 0.01, p < 0.001). CDKN2B showed upregulation in pediatric IBD (FC = 17.39, p < 0.001). The results were in contrast with the literature. Conclusion: It seems that these LncRNAs may have different roles in pediatric IBD. Further studies are needed on pediatric cases of IBD.