Circular RNAs hsa_circ_0000479 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells as novel biomarkers for systemic lupus erythematosus

Abstract

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a class of non-coding RNAs that play a crucial role in diagnosis and prognosis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). However, circRNAs expression profiling in SLE from different reports are different. In this study, 11 circRNAs (hsa_circ_0000479, hsa_circ_0002316, hsa_circ_0000317, hsa_circ_0082688, hsa_circ_0082689, hsa_circ_0087798, hsa_circ_0008529, hsa_circ_0000787, hsa_circ_0021727, hsa_circ_0000175, and hsa_circ_0003694) which were found to be significantly up-regulated in both peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from SLE patients in our previous study, and T cells from SLE patients in previous literature, were chosen for validation by quantitative reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction in PBMCs from 50 new-onset SLE patients, 24 new-onset rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, 24 new-onset ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients, and 45 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HC). The results validated that PBMCs hsa_circ_0000479, hsa_circ_0082688, and hsa_circ_0082689 were increased, while hsa_circ_0000175 was significantly decreased in SLE patients than that in RA patients, AS patients, and HC. The correlation analysis of these confirmed differentially expressed circRNAs showed that hsa_circ_0000479 was associated with C3 level and treatment, hsa_circ_0082688 was associated with anti-dsDNA level, hsa_circ_0082689 was associated with anti-dsDNA level, anti-nuclesome frequency and treatment. Receiver operating characteristic curve anaylsis suggested that hsa_circ_0000479 has significant value in distinguishing SLE from AS patients, RA patients, and HC (AUC = 0.825, p < .001). Moreover, the hsa_circ_0000479-anti-dsDNA combination model could effectively discriminate the SLE group and the control groups (RA + AS + HC), with a sensitivity of 86.00% (43/50), a specificity of 100.00% (93/93), and an accuracy of 95.10% (136/143). This study suggested that hsa_circ_0000479 in PBMC and hsa_circ_0000479-anti-dsDNA combination model may serve as potential biomarkers for SLE diagnosis and evaluation of therapeutic effect.

Keywords:

• Biomarker
• circular RNAs
• systemic lupus erythematosus

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the help from Dr. Rui Wu at department of rheumatology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, China.

Ethical approval

This study was authorized by the Ethics Committee of the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University. All participants provided informed consent before start of the study.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Key Research and Development Plan Project of Jiangxi Province [20181BBG70013], the Science and Technology Plan Project of the Education Department of Jiangxi Province [170008], the National Natural Science Foundation of China [81360459, 81660277], Jiangxi Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China [20151BAB215031, 20171BAB205113], the Science and Technology Project of Health and Family Planning Commission of Jiangxi Province of China [20165094] and the Foundation for Distinguished Young Scientists of Jiangxi Province of China [20171BCB23087].