Comprehensive evaluation of differentially expressed non-coding RNAs identified during macrophage activation

Abstract

Macrophages are the primary cell type in the immune system and are activated in response to diverse external stimuli. They can exert inflammatory or anti-inflammatory responses depending on the type of stimuli in the system, and as such rely on a complex network of diverse signaling pathways to function. Non-coding RNAs have recently been established as an important class of regulators linked to the activation of macrophages. Although the roles of many microRNAs have been described, the majority of the other types of regulatory non-coding RNAs, including long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), remain undefined. In this study, we performed a comprehensive analysis of several large RNA sequencing datasets to identify common lncRNAs differentially expressed after M1 or M2 macrophage induction. We identified the lncRNAs that underwent significant changes in each dataset and established a list of commonly altered lncRNAs. We expect that our data will act as a valuable resource for future studies designed to uncover the roles of these lncRNAs in determining macrophage fates.