Study on the expression changes of lncRNA in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and its correlation with Treg cells

Objectives We initially explored the link between the differentially expressed long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and the number of regulatory T (Treg) cells by detecting the lncRNA expression profiles in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), then analyzed the correlation between Treg-related lncRNAs and the clinical features of SLE patients, predicting the mechanism by which lncRNAs regulate the differentiation and development of Treg cells, and provided new ideas for the treatment of SLE. Methods Peripheral blood of 9 active SLE patients were collected and mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were extracted; the lncRNA expression profiles of PBMCs were analyzed by whole transcriptome sequencing. Nine healthy people were used as controls to screen the differentially expressed lncRNAs, to analyze the correlation between lncRNAs and Treg cell number. Pearson test was used to analyze the correlation between lncRNAs and the number of Treg cell, and the correlation between Treg-associated lncRNA and SLEDAI score, ESR, C3, and C4 in SLE patients. The targeted genes of Treg-associated lncRNAs were predicted with miRcode and Targetscan databases and coexpression network. Results There were 240 differentially expressed lncRNAs in SLE patients compared with healthy controls, including 134 highly expressed lncRNAs ( p < 0.05) and 106 lowly expressed lncRNAs ( p < 0.05). The expression of ANKRD44-AS1 ( r = 0.7417, p = 0.0222), LINC00200 ( r = 0.6960, p = 0.0373), AP001363.2 ( r = 0.7766, p = 0.0138), and LINC02824 ( r = 0.7893, p = 0.0114) were positively correlated with the number of Treg cell, and the expression of AP000640.1 ( r = − 0.7225, p = 0.0279), AC124248.1 ( r = − 0.7653, p = 0.0163), LINC00482 ( r = − 0.8317, p = 0.0054), and MIR503HG ( r = − 0.7617, p < 0.05) were negatively correlated with the number of Treg cell. Among these Treg-associated lncRNAs, the expression of LINC00482 ( r = − 0.7348, p < 0.05) and MIR503 HG ( r = − 0.7617, p < 0.05) were negatively correlated with C3. LINC00200, ANKRD44 - AS1, and AP000640.1 related to Treg cells regulate the expression of signal transducer and activator of transcription 5 (STAT5), phospholipase D1 (PLD1), homeodomain-only protein X (HOPX), and runt-related transcription factor 3 (RUNX3) through competitive binding of miRNA or trans-regulatory mechanism, thereby regulating the differentiation and development of Treg cell. Conclusions The lncRNA expression profiles were changed in SLE patients, the differentially