A study on the relation of positive and negative symptoms to long non-coding RNAs with altered expressions in schizophrenia

Abstract

Objective To explore the relation of positive and negative symptoms to long non coding RNAs (lncRNAs) with altered expressions in peripheral blood of schizophrenia. Methods Gene microarray was used to screen the lncRNAs which expressed differently in case group compared to that in control group, and the screened lncRNAs were validated by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR(qRT-PCR) in 96 schizophrenic patients in the outpatient service and psychiatric wards of No.102 Hospital of the Chinese People′s Liberation Army and 44 healthy people from Auguest 2012 to June 2014. And Mann-Whitney U test, t test and correlation analysis were used to analyze the correlations of positive and negative symptoms with the expression levels of lncRNAs in schizophrenic patients. Results 1. Compared to control group, 3 lncRNAs(NONHSAT021545、NONHSAT089447、NONHSAT098126) in case group were greatly high-regulated and the differences were statistically significant (t=-2.460~-2.038, P<0.05). 2. The correlation analysis on differentially-expressed lncRNAs with the scores of positive and negative symptom scale (PANSS) revealed that PR1~PR10 with altered expressions were positively associated with the scores of positive and negative symptom scale (r=0.231~0.276, all P<0.05). 3. PR1~PR10 with altered expressions were positively correlated to activation(r=0.243~0.352, all P<0.05); TCONS_l2_00025502、ENS0563823、ENS0521622、TCONS_l2_00021339 and NONHSAT104778 were positively correlated to stubborn(r=0.201~0.223, P<0.05); PR1~PR10 were positively correlated to aggressivity(r=0.207~0.259, P<0.05). 4. The scores of activation and aggressivity of NONHSAT021545 and NONHSAT041499 in high-expressed group were significantly lower than that in low-expressed group(P<0.05 or 0.01). Conclusion The abnormal expression of lncRNAs may have some relevance with schizophrenia, and to be specific, some lncRNAs may be associated with the positive and negative symptoms. Key words: Schizophrenia; Long non-coding RNA; Biomarker; Positive and negative symptom scale