Expression Profile of Long Non-Coding RNAs in Serum of Patients with Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic progressive inflammatory disease of the central nervous system (CNS) that leads to severe neurological disability. There is an interest in potential biomarkers that could provide information predicting disease activity and progression. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been reported to be involved in the pathogenesis of various human disorders, such as oncologic, cardiovascular, and neurodegenerative diseases. No studies have so far explored a potential link between lncRNAs and MS pathology. We screened 84 lncRNAs, involved in autoimmunity and human inflammatory response, in the serum of relapsing-remitting MS (RR-MS) patients (n = 12), age-matched controls (n = 12), and in patients with idiopathic inflammatory myopathy (IIM) (n = 12). We used the following criteria for lncRNAs analysis: fold change > 2 and p < 0.05. According to these criteria, by real-time PCR, we identified three lncRNAs up-regulated in RR-MS patients respectively to controls: nuclear paraspeckle assembly transcript 1 (NEAT1), taurine up-regulated 1 (TUG1), and 7SK small nuclear (RN7SK RNA). Literature data showed that NEAT1, TUG1, and RN7SK RNA play an important role in neurodegenerative processes. Our results indicate that these lncRNAs may be involved in MS pathogenesis. Additional experimental data are needed to clarify the molecular mechanisms through which lncRNAs up-regulation may have a role in MS.