Clinical significance of reduced expression of lncRNA TUG1 in the peripheral blood of systemic lupus erythematosus patients.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the expression and clinical significance of long non-coding RNA taurine up-regulated gene 1 (lncRNA TUG1) in the peripheral blood of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients.


METHODS
With the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs: T-cells, B-cells and monocytes) collected from SLE patients and healthy controls, TUG1 expression was determined to identify the correlation with the clinicopathological features of SLE patients. Thereby, the diagnostic value of TUG1 expression in diagnosis of SLE was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis.


RESULTS
As compared to healthy controls, SLE patients manifested a lower expression of TUG1 in PBMCs, which was further decreased in SLE patients with lupus nephritis (P < .05). The lowest level of TUG1 was found in monocytes, rather than T-cells or B-cells (P < .05). Negative correlations were identified between TUG1 levels and SLE Disease Activity Index score (r = -.904, P < .001), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (r = -.779, P < .001), disease duration (r = -.503, P < .001) and 24-hour urinary protein (r = -.807, P < .001). Complement C3 levels were positively associated with TUG1 expression (r = .817, P < .001). In addition, the area under the ROC curve of diagnostic efficiency for SLE based on TUG1 was 0.982, and 0.930 for SLE with lupus nephritis.


CONCLUSIONS
The levels of lncRNA TUG1 was markedly lower in the SLE patients, which was more obvious in SLE patients with lupus nephritis, and thus, it could be a promising clinical diagnostic tool for SLE patients or SLE patients with lupus nephritis.
['Cao|Hai-Yu|HY|', 'Li|Dong|D|', 'Wang|Yun-Peng|YP|', 'Lu|Hui-Xiu|HX|', 'Sun|Jing|J|', 'Li|Hai-Bin|HB|https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0613-5347']
D000328:Adult D016022:Case-Control Studies D000073888:Cell-Free Nucleic Acids D015536:Down-Regulation D005260:Female D006801:Humans D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear D008180:Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic D008181:Lupus Nephritis D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D062085:RNA, Long Noncoding
lncRNA TUG1 systemic lupus erythematosus monocytes lupus nephritis