Transcriptomic profiling of long non-coding RNAs in dermatomyositis by microarray analysis

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are prevalently transcribed in the genome and have been found to be of functional importance. However, the potential roles of lncRNAs in dermatomyositis (DM) remain unknown. In this study, a lncRNA + mRNA microarray analysis was performed to profile lncRNAs and mRNAs from 15 treatment-naive DM patients and 5 healthy controls. We revealed a total of 1198 lncRNAs (322 up-regulated and 876 down-regulated) and 1213 mRNAs (665 up-regulated and 548 down-regulated) were significantly differentially expressed in DM patients compared with the healthy controls (fold change>2, P < 0.05). Subgrouping DM patients according to the presence of interstitial lung disease and anti-Jo-1 antibody revealed different expression patterns of the lncRNAs. Pathway and gene ontology analysis for the differentially expressed mRNAs confirmed that type 1 interferon signaling was the most significantly dysregulated pathway in all DM subgroups. In addition, distinct pathways that uniquely associated with DM subgroup were also identified. Bioinformatics prediction suggested that linc-DGCR6-1 may be a lncRNA that regulates type 1 interferon-inducible gene USP18, which was found highly expressed in the perifascicular areas of the muscle fibers of DM patients. Our findings provide an overview of aberrantly expressed lncRNAs in DM muscle and further broaden the understanding of DM pathogenesis.