Bronchial Epithelial Cells from Cystic Fibrosis Patients Express a Specific Long Non-coding RNA Signature upon Pseudomonas aeruginosa Infection

Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Pa) is the leading cause of chronic lung infection in Cystic Fibrosis (CF) patients. It is well recognized that CF epithelial cells fail to develop an appropriate response to infection, allowing bacterial colonization and a chronic inflammatory response. Since long non-coding RNAs (IncRNAs), are known to play a key role in regulating mammalian innate immune response, we hypothesized that CF cells exposed to Pa could express a specific IncRNA signature responsible of the maladaptative CF response. We analyzed transcriptomic datasets to compare the expression profiles of IncRNAs in primary CF and non-CF epithelial cells infected with Pa at 0, 2, 4, and 6 h of infection. Our analysis identified temporal expression signatures of 25, 73, 15, and 26 IncRNA transcripts differentially expressed at 0, 2, 4, and 6 h post-infection respectively, between CF and non-CF cells. In addition, we identified profiles specific to CF and non-CF cells. The differential expression of two candidate IncRNAs were independently validated using real-time PCR. We identified a specific CF signature of IncRNA expression in a context of Pa infection that could potentially play a role in the maladaptive immune response of CF patients.