Abstract
Background Long noncoding RNA MALAT1 is closely related to diabetes and kidney diseases and is expected to be a new target for the diagnosis and treatment of diabetic nephropathy. Objective This study aimed to explore the circulating expression level and significance of lncRNA Malat1 in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and diabetic kidney disease (DKD). Methods Quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) was conducted to assess the expression of lncRNA Malat1 in 20 T2DM patients, 27 DKD patients, and 14 healthy controls, and then, the clinical significance was analyzed. Results LncRNA MALAT1 expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) was significantly upregulated in T2DM and DKD groups when compared to control. Pearson's correlation analysis showed correlation of lncRNA MALAT1 levels with ACR, urine β2-microglobulin (β2-MG), urine α1-microglobulin (α1-MG), creatinine (Cr), and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), while negative with superoxide dismutase (SOD) (r = −0.388, P < 0.05). Binary regression analysis showed that ACR, creatinine, α1-MG, and LncRNA Malat1 were the risk factors for diabetic nephropathy with OR value of 1.166, 1.031, 1.031, and 2.019 (P < 0.05). The area under ROC curve (AUC) of DKD identified by the above indicators was 0.914, 0.643, 0.807, and 0.797, respectively. The AUC of Joint prediction probability of DKD recognition was 0.914, and the sensitivity and specificity of DKD diagnosis were 1.0 and 0.806, respectively. (Take ≥0.251 as the diagnostic cutoff point). Conclusion LncRNA Malat1 is highly expressed in DKD patients, and the combined detection of ACR, creatinine, α1-MG, and LncRNA Malat1 with diabetes mellitus may be the best way to diagnose diabetic nephropathy.
Highlights
Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) has become the primary etiology for chronic kidney disease in China
Compared with healthy control group, LncRNA MALAT1 expression was shown to be obviously upregulated in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and diabetic kidney disease (DKD) patients, with
The results revealed that Long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) MALAT1 expression was positively correlated with ACR, urine β2MG, urine α1-MG, Cr, and HbA1c (Figures 3(a)–3(e)), while a negative correlation was observed with superoxide dismutase (SOD) (Figure 3(f))
Summary
Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) has become the primary etiology for chronic kidney disease in China. Recent studies have confirmed the involvement of lncRNA in DKD processes such as renal fibrosis, extracellular matrix deposition, inflammatory response, oxidative stress, and apoptosis of renal tubular epithelial cells [7] It played a vital role in DKD pathogenesis and progression via a series of mechanisms. MALAT1, known as noncoding nuclearenriched abundant transcript 2 (NEAT2), was initially detected in the year 2003 by Ji et al [8] in nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) It is regarded as one of the highly conservative lncRNAs in mammals. This study aimed to explore the circulating expression level and significance of lncRNA Malat in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and diabetic kidney disease (DKD). LncRNA Malat is highly expressed in DKD patients, and the combined detection of ACR, creatinine, α1-MG, and LncRNA Malat with diabetes mellitus may be the best way to diagnose diabetic nephropathy
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