The alteration of lncRNA expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells and the effects of anti-anxiety treatment on lncRNA expression of generalized anxiety disorder patients

Abstract

Objective To confirm expression alteration of long non-coding RNA(lncRNA) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of generalized anxiety disorder(GAD) patients and anti-anxiety treatment effects on aberrant expression of lncRNAs. Methods Real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was employed in 80 GAD patients and 40 healthy participants to confirm 10 aberrant lncRNAs screened by microarray expression profiling.And 26 out of all the 80 GAD patients were recruited for lncRNA expression level testing and Hamilton Anxiety Scale(HAMA) assessments before and after 6 weeks’ treatment. Results Six of ten lncRNAs selected by array profiling (lncRNA4(7.44±2.26), lncRNA5(6.83±2.28), lncRNA6(8.09±2.30), lncRNA8(9.10±2.36), lncRNA9(7.66±2.12), lncRNA10(7.34±2.12)) were verified by qRT-PCR that the lncRNA expression levels were significantly up regulated in GAD patients compared with healthy controls(Z=-3.022--1.996, P<0.05 or 0.01), and lncRNA4(9.73±2.53), lncRNA6(9.91±2.01), lncRNA8(10.48±1.68), lncRNA9(9.02±1.58), lncRNA10(9.04±2.08) were down regulated significantly after 6 weeks’ anti-anxiety treatment(Z=-3.180--2.530, P<0.05 or 0.01) along with signicant reduction of total HAMA score (11.19±8.37), dimension scores of somatic anxiety(5.31±4.76), psychic anxiety(5.88±3.82) (t=5.502-5.971, P<0.01). The alterations of lncRNA4, lncRNA6, lncRNA8, lncRNA9, lncRNA10 were positively correlated with that of HAMA total score and psychic anxiety score(r=0.39-0.69, P<0.05 or 0.01), and alteration of lncRNA6, lncRNA8, lncRNA10 had positive correlation with that of somatic anxiety score(r=0.44-0.59, P<0.01). Conclusion The expression level of lncRNA4, lncRNA5, lncRNA6, lncRNA8, lncRNA9, lncRNA10 are up-regulation in PBMCs of GAD patients and anti-anxiety treatment can reverse the expression level of lncRNAs. Alteration of lncRNA expression has osculatory association with improvement of anxious symptom. Key words: Generalized anxiety disorder; Peripheral blood mononuclear cell; lncRNA; Differential expression