Knockdown of lncRNA ENST00000609755.1 Confers Protection Against Early oxLDL-Induced Coronary Heart Disease

Echinacoside activates Nrf2/PPARγ signaling pathway to modulate mitochondrial fusion-fission balance to ameliorate ox-LDL-induced dysfunction of coronary artery endothelial cells

As a cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease (CHD) is characterized by poor prognosis and increasing morbidity and mortality rates. Echinacoside (ECH) can protect against multiple cardiovascular diseases due to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. However, the role of ECH in CHD remains unclear. In ECH-treated human coronary artery endothelial cells (HCAECs), cell viability, NO production, endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) expression, and angiogenesis ability were detected using cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay, diaminofluorescein-FM diacetate (DAF-FM DA) staining, western blot, and tube formation assay, respectively. The activities of oxidative stress markers were detected using dichloro-dihydro-fluorescein diacetate (DCFH-DA) assay and corresponding assay kits. Cell apoptosis was detected utilizing flow cytometry and caspase3 assay. Western blot was used to detect the expressions of Nrf2/PPARγ signaling pathway- and mitochondrial dynamics-related proteins. Mitochondrial membrane potential and mitochondrial fusion and fission were detected using JC-1 staining and immunofluorescence (IF) assay. In this study, ECH was found to revive the viability, ameliorate the endothelial dysfunction, suppress oxidative stress, and inhibit the apoptosis in ox-LDL-induced HCAECs via activating Nrf2/PPARγ signaling pathway, which were all abolished following the treatment of Nrf2 inhibitor ML385. It was also identified that ECH regulated mitochondrial fusion-fission balance in ox-LDL-induced HCAECs through the activation of Nrf2/PPARγ signaling pathway. In summary, ECH activated Nrf2/PPARγ signaling pathway to regulate mitochondrial fusion-fission balance, thereby improving ox-LDL-induced dysfunction of HCAECs.

LncRNA-mediated Modulation of Endothelial Cells: Novel Progress in the Pathogenesis of Coronary Atherosclerotic Disease

Coronary atherosclerotic disease (CAD) is a common cardiovascular disease and an important cause of death. Moreover, endothelial cells (ECs) injury is an early pathophysiological feature of CAD, and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) can modulate gene expression. Recent studies have shown that lncRNAs are involved in the pathogenesis of CAD, especially by regulating ECs. In this review, we summarize the novel progress of lncRNA-modulated ECs in the pathogenesis of CAD, including ECs proliferation, migration, adhesion, angiogenesis, inflammation, apoptosis, autophagy, and pyroptosis. Thus, as lncRNAs regulate ECs in CAD, lncRNAs will provide ideal and novel targets for the diagnosis and drug therapy of CAD.

Clinical Significance of MicroRNAs, Long Non-Coding RNAs, and CircRNAs in Cardiovascular Diseases

Based on recent research, the non-coding genome is essential for controlling genes and genetic programming during development, as well as for health and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). The microRNAs (miRNAs), lncRNAs (long ncRNAs), and circRNAs (circular RNAs) with significant regulatory and structural roles make up approximately 99% of the human genome, which does not contain proteins. Non-coding RNAs (ncRNA) have been discovered to be essential novel regulators of cardiovascular risk factors and cellular processes, making them significant prospects for advanced diagnostics and prognosis evaluation. Cases of CVDs are rising due to limitations in the current therapeutic approach; most of the treatment options are based on the coding transcripts that encode proteins. Recently, various investigations have shown the role of nc-RNA in the early diagnosis and treatment of CVDs. Furthermore, the development of novel diagnoses and treatments based on miRNAs, lncRNAs, and circRNAs could be more helpful in the clinical management of patients with CVDs. CVDs are classified into various types of heart diseases, including cardiac hypertrophy (CH), heart failure (HF), rheumatic heart disease (RHD), acute coronary syndrome (ACS), myocardial infarction (MI), atherosclerosis (AS), myocardial fibrosis (MF), arrhythmia (ARR), and pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Here, we discuss the biological and clinical importance of miRNAs, lncRNAs, and circRNAs and their expression profiles and manipulation of non-coding transcripts in CVDs, which will deliver an in-depth knowledge of the role of ncRNAs in CVDs for progressing new clinical diagnosis and treatment.

Expression of lncRNA APF in Peripheral Blood of Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction Caused by Coronary Heart Disease and its Clinical Significance

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the leading cause of death from cardiovascular disease. This study investigated the expression and clinical significance of long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) autophagy promoting factor (APF) in peripheral blood of patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) caused by CHD. Patients with angina pectoris (AP) (n = 80) and AMI (n = 96) and other patients (n = 60) with precordial discomfort but no CHD were included. The serum levels of lncRNA APF, MIAT, MALAT1, H19, CHAST, CDR1AS, miR-188-3p, and cardiac troponin I (cTnI) /creatine kinase (CK) /creatine kinase isozymes (CK-MB) were detected using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction or enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Patients with AMI were divided into high/low expression groups based on the median level of APF, and the clinical baseline indicators of patients with AMI were compared. The correlation between lncRNA APF and cTnI/CK/CK-MB/miR-188-3p was analyzed using Pearson analysis, and the clinical value of lncRNA APF was evaluated using the receiver operating characteristic curve. The levels of lncRNA APF, MIAT, MALAT1, H19, CHAST, and CDR1AS in patients with AMI were increased, whereas there were no differences in patients with AP. The APF levels in patients with AMI were higher than MIAT, MALAT1, and CHAST, whereas there were no differences between APF and H19 and CDR1AS. In patients with AMI, the high level of lncRNA APF was correlated with the history of smoking/drinking. Moreover, lncRNA APF was positively correlated with cTnI/CK/CK-MB levels and negatively correlated with miR-188-3p. LncRNA APF has high diagnostic efficacy for AMI. Overall, lncRNA APF is highly expressed in patients with AMI caused by CHD and has high diagnostic efficacy for AMI.

Effect of berberine on global modulation of lncRNAs and mRNAs expression profiles in patients with stable coronary heart disease

BACKGROUND

Berberine (BBR) is an isoquinoline alkaloid found in the Berberis species. It was found to have protected effects in cardiovascular diseases. Here, we investigated the effect the regulatory function of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) during the treatment of stable coronary heart disease (CHD) using BBR. We performed microarray analyses to identify differentially expressed (DE) lncRNAs and mRNAs between whole blood samples from 5 patients with stable CHD taking BBR and 5 no BBR volunteers. DE lncRNAs and mRNAs were validated by quantitative real-time PCR.

RESULTS

A total of 1703 DE lncRNAs and 912 DE mRNAs were identified. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway analysis indicated DE mRNAs might be associated with mammalian target of rapamycin and mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway. These pathways may be involved in the healing process after CHD. To study the relationship between mRNAs encoding transcription factors (DNA damage inducible transcript 3, sal-like protein 4 and estrogen receptor alpha gene) and CHD related de mRNAs, we performed protein and protein interaction analysis on their corresponding proteins. AKT and apoptosis pathway were significant enriched in protein and protein interaction network. BBR may affect downstream apoptosis pathways through DNA damage inducible transcript 3, sal-like protein 4 and estrogen receptor alpha gene. Growth arrest-specific transcript 5 might regulate CHD-related mRNAs through competing endogenous RNA mechanism and may be the downstream target gene regulated by BBR. Verified by the quantitative real-time PCR, we identified 8 DE lncRNAs that may relate to CHD. We performed coding and non-coding co-expression and competing endogenous RNA mechanism analysis of these 8 DE lncRNAs and CHD-related DE mRNA, and predicted their subcellular localization and N6-methyladenosine modification sites.

CONCLUSION

Our research found that BBR may affect mammalian target of rapamycin, mitogen-activated protein kinase, apoptosis pathway and growth arrest-specific transcript 5 in the process of CHD. These pathways may be involved in the healing process after CHD. Our research might provide novel insights for functional research of BBR.