Aberrant lncRNA expression in patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy: preliminary results from a single-center observational study

Lan Zeng; Minwen Zhou; Xiaocong Wang; Xiaofeng Long; Meng Ye; Yuan Yuan; Wei Tan

doi:10.1186/s12886-023-02817-4

Aberrant lncRNA expression in patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy: preliminary results from a single-center observational study

BMC Ophthalmol. 2023 Mar 10;23(1):94. doi: 10.1186/s12886-023-02817-4.

Authors

Lan Zeng^{1

2}, Minwen Zhou³, Xiaocong Wang^{1

2}, Xiaofeng Long^{1

2}, Meng Ye^{1

2}, Yuan Yuan^{1

2}, Wei Tan^{4

5}

Affiliations

¹ Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi, Guizhou, China.
² Department of Ophthalmology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical University (The First People's Hospital of Zunyi), Zunyi, Guizhou, China.
³ Department of Ophthalmology, Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai, China.
⁴ Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi, Guizhou, China. tanweichn@126.com.
⁵ Department of Ophthalmology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical University (The First People's Hospital of Zunyi), Zunyi, Guizhou, China. tanweichn@126.com.

Abstract

Background: Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a leading cause of blindness. Vision threat is particularly severe in patients with retinal neovascularization. However, little is known about the role of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) in proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR). The goal of this study was to identify lncRNAs involved in PDR.

Methods: We compared lncRNA expression profiles in the vitreous between patients with PDR and those with idiopathic macular hole (IMH) and between patients with PDR who had received anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapy and those who had not. Vitreous samples from patients with PDR and IMH were screened for lncRNAs using microarray-based analysis, and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to confirm the microarray results. Bioinformatic analysis was also performed. Moreover, the effect of anti-VEGF therapy was investigated in vitreous samples of patients with PDR treated with anti-VEGF therapy and those who were not.

Results: A total of 1067 differentially expressed noncoding RNA transcripts were found during screening in the vitreous humor of patients with PDR than in those with IMH. Five lncRNAs were subjected to qRT-PCR. RP11-573 J24.1, RP11-787B4.2, RP11-654G14.1, RP11-2A4.3, and RP11-502I4.3 were significantly downregulated; this was validated by the comparison using the microarray data. In addition, 835 differentially expressed noncoding RNA transcripts were found during screening in the vitreous humor of patients with PDR treated with anti-VEGF therapy compared with untreated PDR patients. RP4-631H13.2 was significantly upregulated, which is consistent with the trend of the microarray analysis.

Conclusions: There were systemic expression differences in the vitreous at the microarray level between patients with PDR and those with IMH and between patients with PDR after anti-VEGF treatment and those that did not receive anti-VEGF treatment. LncRNAs identified in the vitreous humor may be a novel research field for PDR.

Keywords: Anti-vascular endothelial growth factor; Long noncoding RNA; Proliferative diabetic retinopathy; Vitreous.

Publication types

Observational Study

MeSH terms

Diabetes Mellitus* / metabolism
Diabetic Retinopathy* / diagnosis
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
Humans
RNA, Long Noncoding*
Retinal Neovascularization* / metabolism
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / metabolism
Vitreous Body / metabolism

Substances

RNA, Long Noncoding
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A