Identification of a peripheral blood long non-coding RNA (Upperhand) as a potential diagnostic marker of coronary artery disease

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been confirmed to be involved in the pathologi-cal processes of multiple diseases. However, the characteristic expression of lncRNAs in peripheral blood of coronary artery disease (CAD) patients and whether some of these lncRNAs can be used as diagnostic biomarkers for CAD requires further investigation. Six healthy and CAD individuals were selected for microarray analysis, and 5 differentially expressed lncRNAs were selected and confirmed in the second cohort consisting of 30 control individu-als and 30 CAD patients with different SYNTAX scores. Upperhand were verified in the third cohort consisting of 115 controls and 137 CAD patients. Thirty one lncRNAs were differentially expressed between the two groups, among whom, 25 were upregulated in the CAD group and 6 were downregulated. Four of the selected five lncRNAs were significantly upregulated in the CAD group, and Upperhand had the largest area under the curve (AUC). The diagnostic value of Upperhand was tested further, and it remained having a high diagnostic value. The expression level of Upperhand in peripheral blood of CAD patients is significantly higher than in control individuals, and is correlated with severity of CAD. Upperhand is a potential diagnostic biomarker of CAD, and when combined with TCONS_00029157, diagnostic value slightly increased.