LncRNA-TUG1 as a potential diagnostic biomarker for coronary atherosclerotic heart disease

Abstract

Objectives Accumulating evidence suggests that people living in cold regions have a higher risk of developing coronary atherosclerotic heart disease (CHD). Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been implicated in the pathogenesis and treatment of a variety of diseases. The present study aimed to investigate the serum level of lncRNA-taurine upregulated gene 1 (TUG1) in patients with CHD and assess its potential as a diagnostic biomarker. This study aimes to investigate the serum level of lncRNA-TUG1 in patients with CHD and assess its potential as a diagnostic biomarker. Methods The Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database was employed to identify the potential lncRNAs serving as biomarkers for CHD. To validate lncRNA-TUG1, 232 subjects were enrolled in both test and diagnostic cohorts. Serum lncRNA-TUG1 levels were measured by RT-qPCR. The association between lncRNA-TUG1 levels and CHD severity was analyzed using Pearson's correlation test. Diagnostic value was assessed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis and compared with established cardiac biomarkers. Results LncRNA-TUG1 was identified in the GEO database as a potential biomarker for CHD. Serum lncRNA-TUG1 levels were significantly higher in CHD patients compared with healthy controls and non-CHD patients. CRP levels also differed between CHD and non-CHD groups, while other biomarkers showed no significant differences. ROC curve analysis demonstrated that lncRNA-TUG1 could distinguish CHD from non-CHD patients, with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.8916, which was higher than that of conventional biomarkers such as cTnI. At a cut-off value of 2.311, the sensitivity and specificity of lncRNA-TUG1 were 61.63% and 97.67%, respectively, surpassing the diagnostic performance of cTnI. Furthermore, lncRNA-TUG1 levels in CHD patients were positively correlated with SYNTAX scores from coronary angiography and increased with the severity of vascular stenosis. Conclusion Elevated serum lncRNA-TUG1 levels in CHD patients suggest that lncRNA-TUG1 may serve as a novel and valuable diagnostic biomarker for CHD, with potential utility in differentiating CHD from other cardiac diseases.

Keywords

coronary atherosclerotic heart disease / long non-coding RNAs-taurine upregulated gene 1 / biomarker

Acknowledgements

Not applicable.

Research ethics

The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University (2023-Ethical Review-49) and was conducted in accordance with ethical standards of the Declaration of Helsinki.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all the patients involved in this study.

Author contributions

Wang X designed and performed the experiments and drafted the manuscript. Ji X Y designed and performed the experiments and analyzed the data. Zhang S Y performed the experiments. Cai B Z conceived and supervised the study and revised the manuscript. Liu Y conceived and supervised the study and revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Use of large language models, AI and machine learning tools

No large language models, AI or machine learning tool was used for any part of the present study.

Conflicts of Interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Research funding

This study was supported by the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Special Support, Grant No. 2018T110318) and the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program for College Students (Grant No. S202110226047).

Data availability

The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article and its supplementary material. Further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding authors.

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