Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are persistently expressed and have been described as potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets in various diseases. However, there is limited information regarding lncRNA expression in the tissue of kidney exhibiting lupus nephritis (LN)a serious complication of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). In this study, RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) was performed to characterize the lncRNA and mRNA expression in kidney tissues from LN (MRL/lpr) and control mice. We identified 12,979 novel lncRNAs in mouse. The expression profiles of both mRNAs and lncRNAs were differed significantly between LN and control mice. In particular, there were more upregulated lncRNAs and mRNAs than downregulated ones in the kidney tissues of LN mice. However, GO analysis showed that more downregulated genes were enriched in immune and inflammatory response-associated pathways. KEGG analysis showed that both downregulated and upregulated genes were enriched in a number of pathways, including the SLE pathway, and approximately half of these SLE-associated genes encoded inflammatory factors. Moreover, we observed that 2,181 DElncRNAs may have targeted and regulated the expression of 778 mRNAs in LN kidney tissues. The results of this study showed that 11 DElncRNAs targeted and were co-expressed with six immune and SLE-associated genes. qPCR analysis confirmed that lncRNA Gm20513 positively regulated the expression of the SLE-associated gene H2-Aa. In conclusion, the results of our study demonstrates that lncRNAs influence the progression of LN and provide some cues for further study of lncRNAs in LN. These results regarding the lncRNA-mRNAregulatory network may have important value in LN diagnosis and therapy.

中文翻译：

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狼疮性肾炎小鼠肾脏lncRNA和mRNA表达谱的综合分析

长非编码RNA（lncRNA）持续表达，并已被描述为各种疾病中的潜在生物标志物和治疗靶标。然而，关于在患有狼疮性肾炎（LN）的肾组织中的lncRNA表达的信息有限，这是系统性红斑狼疮（SLE）的严重并发症。在这项研究中，进行了RNA测序（RNA-seq）来表征LN（MRL / lpr）和对照小鼠的肾脏组织中lncRNA和mRNA的表达。我们在小鼠中鉴定出12,979个新颖的lncRNA。LN和对照小鼠之间，mRNA和lncRNA的表达谱均存在显着差异。特别是，在LN小鼠的肾脏组织中，lncRNA和mRNA的表达高于下调的lncRNA和mRNA。然而，GO分析表明，更多的下调基因富含免疫和炎症反应相关途径。KEGG分析表明，下调和上调的基因均富集于许多途径中，包括SLE途径，这些SLE相关基因中约有一半编码炎症因子。此外，我们观察到2,181个DElncRNA可能已靶向并调节了LN肾组织中778 mRNA的表达。这项研究的结果表明，有11个DElncRNA靶向并与6个免疫和SLE相关基因共表达。qPCR分析证实，lncRNA Gm20513阳性调节SLE相关基因H2-Aa的表达。总之，我们的研究结果表明lncRNAs影响LN的进程，并为进一步研究LN中的lncRNAs提供了一些线索。