Long noncoding RNA DANCR expression and its predictive value in patients with atherosclerosis

Figures & data

Table 1. The difference in clinical data of the study population

Features	Healthy controls (n = 68)	AS patients (n = 137)	P value
Age (years)	48.95 ± 4.49	49.07 ± 4.38	0.850
Sex (male/female)	37/31	75/62	0.964
BMI (kg/m^2)	22.16 ± 2.83	22.87 ± 3.37	0.117
TC (mmol/L)	4.03 ± 0.80	4.24 ± 1.09	0.153
HDL-C (mmol/L)	1.59 ± 0.56	1.63 ± 0.50	0.647
LDL-C (mmol/L)	2.86 ± 0.85	3.12 ± 0.83	0.042
TG (mmol/L)	1.36 ± 0.086	1.38 ± 0.077	0.089
FBG (mmol/L)	4.95 ± 0.50	4.93 ± 0.59	0.785
ALT (U/L)	18.35 ± 8.72	20.21 ± 10.14	0.175
AST(U/L)	19.79 ± 10.16	21.08 ± 10.55	0.398
UA (mm Hg)	247.85 ± 64.04	251.44 ± 65.62	0.708
Cre (mm Hg)	69.83 ± 21.36	70.94 ± 19.15	0.718
Hcy (μmol/L)	10.67 ± 2.45	11.46 ± 2.35	0.030
CRP (mg/l)	6.13 ± 1.89	19.56 ± 3.22	<0.001

Note: TC: Total cholesterol; HDL-C, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; LDL-C, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol; TG: triglyceride; FBG, fasting blood glucose; ALT, alanine aminotransferase; AST, aspartate aminotransferase; UA, uric acid; Cre, serum creatinine; Hcy, homocysteine; CRP, C-reactive protein.

Figure 1. DANCR levels in the serum of patients with atherosclerosis. (a) The serum DANCR was highly expressed in the serum of patients with atherosclerosis compared to healthy controls. (P < 0.001). (b) ROC curve analysis showed that DANCR could distinguish patients with atherosclerosis from healthy individuals. The AUC was 0.947, a sensitivity of 78.1%, and a specificity of 71%.

Table 2. The correlation analysis between DANCR expression and risk factors of atherosclerosis

	DANCR expression
Parameters	Pearson r	95%CI	P-values
LDL-C	0.2977	0.1369–0.4433	0.0004
Hcy	0.2276	0.0623–0.3808	0.0075
CRP	0.3217	0.1627–0.4643	0.0001

Figure 2. Association between DANCR expression and LDL-C, Hcy, and CRP levels. (a) LDL-C levels were higher in the high DANCR expression group than the low DANCR expression group. (b) Hcy levels were high in the high DANCR expression group. (c) DANCR expression was positively associated with CRP levels. **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001.

Figure 3. Regulation of DANCR on proliferation and migration of VSMC cells. (a) Expression of DANCR in VSMC cells transfected with siRNA or the negative control. (b) The proliferation of VSMC cells was measured using a CCK-8 assay after DANCR knockdown. (c) The migration of VSMC cells was detected through a Transwell migration assay after DANCR knockdown. (Scale bar, 50 μm) *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001.

Figure 4. miR-335-5p is a target of DANCR in VSMC cells. (a) Bioinformatics analyses predicted the binding sites between DANCR and miR-335-5p. (b) The RT-qPCR was conducted to detect miR-335-5p expression in VSMC cells transfected with DANCR siRNA. (c) Dual-luciferase reporter assay validated the interaction between DANCR and miR-335-5p. **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001.