High lncRNA MEG3 expression is associated with high mortality rates in patients with sepsis and increased lipopolysaccharide-induced renal epithelial cell and cardiomyocyte apoptosis

Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) maternally expressed 3 (MEG3) has been reported to be a key component in cancer biology. Preliminary microarray data from a previous study indicated that lncRNA MEG3 expression was altered in plasma of patients with sepsis. The present study found that the plasma levels of lncRNA MEG3 were significantly higher in sepsis patients compared with healthy controls. Patients were subsequently divided into high and low lncRNA MEG3 expression groups according to the Youden's index. Patients from the high lncRNA MEG3 expression group exhibited a significantly higher mortality rate compared with those from the low lncRNA MEG3 expression group. According to treatment outcomes, patients were divided into survival and mortality groups. It was observed that the pre-therapy expression levels of lncRNA MEG3 were significantly higher in mortality group compared with the survival group. Cell experiments in vitro revealed that lncRNA MEG3 overexpression and silencing using siRNA promoted and inhibited renal epithelial cell and cardiomyocyte apoptosis induced by lipopolysaccharide, respectively. In conclusion, these data suggest that lncRNA MEG3 overexpression may be involved in sepsis, and the downregulation of lncRNA MEG3 may serve as a potential therapeutic target for sepsis.