Expression analysis of CEBPA and its antisense RNA revealed their dysregulation in peripheral blood of coronary artery disease patients

Abstract

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a major cause of mortality. It has been associated with several genetic and lifestyle factors. CCAAT enhancer binding protein alpha (CEBPA) encodes a protein with regulatory function on the expression of genes participating in cell cycle control as well as in body weight homeostasis. A non-coding transcript namely adipogenic differentiation induced noncoding RNA (ADINR) has been shown to be transcribed from the upstream region of the CEBPA gene. In the current study, we compared expression of CEBPA and ADINR between CAD patients and healthy subjects. ADINR expression was significantly lower in CAD cases compared with healthy subjects. However, expression of CEBPA was significantly higher in cases compared with controls. A significant correlation was detected between expression of CEBPA and FBS in female subjects (r = 0.50, P < 0.0001). Notably, expression of ADINR was inversely correlated with FBS (r = −0.64, P < 0.0001) and with HDL (r = −0.30, P < 0.0001) in male subjects. Moreover, expression of CEBPA was correlated with FBS in male subjects (r = 0.29, P < 0.0001). The diagnostic power values of ADINR and CEBPA in differentiating between CAD patients and normal subjects were 93% and 80% respectively. Consequently, CEBPA and ADINR are possibly involved in the pathophysiology of CAD and are putative biomarkers for this disorder.