Screening of biomarkers related to Alzheimer's disease based on construction of a ceRNA regulation network

The study objectives were to construct lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA ceRNA regulation network of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and screen the key biomarkers related to AD.

The gene expression data GSE84422 and GSE101684 were downloaded from the NCBI-GEO databases. The differentially expressed RNAs (DElncRNAs, DEmiRNAs, and DEmRNAs) (DERs) were identified by the limma package in R. Then, the Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway on the DEmRNAs were analyzed. Moreover, the lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA ceRNA network of AD was built, the key lncRNAs in the ceRNA network were obtained, and the GO and KEGG analysis of lncRNA target genes were performed.

In total, we acquired 557 DEmRNAs, 36 DElncRNAs and 178 DEmiRNAs in AD. We found that the DEmRNAs were significantly associated with immune-related pathways, such as antigen processing and presentation and graft-versus-host disease. Moreover, the ceRNA regulation network of AD was construct. We identified two key up-regulated lncRNAs, including LINC01094 and LINC00092; and ten key down-regulated lncRNAs, such as CH17-264L24.1, LINC01140 and RP11-159D12.2, etc.

This research built a ceRNA regulation network of AD, which is of great significance for identifying the biomarkers related to AD.