Human osteoclasts are differentiated from CD14⁺ monocytes and are responsible for bone resorption. Long non‐coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been proved to be significantly involved in multiple biologic processes, especially in cell differentiation. However, the effect of lncRNAs in osteoclast differentiation is less appreciated. In our study, RNA sequencing (RNA‐seq) was used to identify the expression profiles of lncRNAs and mRNAs in osteoclast differentiation. The results demonstrated that expressions of 1117 lncRNAs and 296 mRNAs were significantly altered after osteoclast differentiation. qRT‐PCR assays were performed to confirm the expression profiles, and the results were almost consistent with the RNA‐seq data. GO and KEGG analyses were used to predict the functions of these differentially expressed mRNA and lncRNAs. The Path‐net analysis demonstrated that MAPK pathway, PI3K‐AKT pathway and NF‐kappa B pathway played important roles in osteoclast differentiation. Co‐expression networks and competing endogenous RNA networks indicated that ENSG00000257764.2‐miR‐106a‐5p‐TIMP2 may play a central role in osteoclast differentiation. Our study provides a foundation to further understand the role and underlying mechanism of lncRNAs in osteoclast differentiation, in which many of them could be potential targets for bone metabolic disease.

中文翻译：

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LncRNA-mRNA 表达谱和破骨细胞分化中的功能网络。

人类破骨细胞与 CD14 ⁺单核细胞，负责骨吸收。长链非编码 RNA (lncRNA) 已被证明显着参与多种生物过程，尤其是细胞分化。然而，lncRNAs 在破骨细胞分化中的作用鲜为人知。在我们的研究中，RNA测序（RNA-seq）用于鉴定lncRNAs和mRNAs在破骨细胞分化中的表达谱。结果表明，破骨细胞分化后1117个lncRNA和296个mRNA的表达发生显着改变。进行 qRT-PCR 检测以确认表达谱，结果与 RNA-seq 数据几乎一致。GO 和 KEGG 分析用于预测这些差异表达的 mRNA 和 lncRNA 的功能。Path-net 分析表明，MAPK 通路，PI3K-AKT 通路和 NF-κB 通路在破骨细胞分化中起重要作用。共表达网络和竞争性内源性 RNA 网络表明 ENSG00000257764.2-miR-106a-5p-TIMP2 可能在破骨细胞分化中起核心作用。我们的研究为进一步了解 lncRNA 在破骨细胞分化中的作用和潜在机制奠定了基础，其中许多可能是骨代谢疾病的潜在靶点。