Differential Expression of Long Noncoding RNAs in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) constitute the largest class of noncoding RNAs and play significant roles in the development of cardiovascular pathologies. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate whether 4 candidate lncRNAs – MIAT, MEG3, MALAT1, and MCM3AP-AS1 – have distinct expression levels in patients with obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) and reveal the diagnostic and therapeutic potentials of these lncRNAs for CAD. A total of 90 patients who subjected to coronary angiography were enrolled. Relative expression of lncRNAs were assayed using qRT-PCR methodology. As a result, MIAT was downregulated, while MEG3 was upregulated in CAD patients. Receiver operating characteristic curves demonstrated that these lncRNAs have a high potential to provide sensitive and specific diagnosis of CAD. The calculated area under curve levels indicated that MIAT and MEG3 have high diagnostic value for detecting the presence of significant CAD. However, MALAT1 and MCM3AP-AS1 levels were not sufficiently reliable for CAD development in our cases. Here, we demonstrate that MIAT and MEG3 were differentially expressed in our patients and might be promising biomarkers and therapeutic targets for CAD. These results indicate that MIAT and MEG3 could play chief roles in CAD development.