Alterations in the long non-coding RNA transcriptome in mesangial cells treated with aldosterone in vitro

Clinical and experimental reports indicate that aldosterone (ALD) contributes to the progression of renal failure independent of its hemodynamic effects. However, the mechanisms remain to be completely elucidated. The aim of the present study was to investigate the alterations of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) in mesangial cells (MCs) treated with ALD. The present study used MCs treated with 10(−6) M ALD as experimental cells. Microarray techniques performed by Agilent Technologies were used to identify the profiles of differentially expressed lncRNAs between the ALD group and the control group. Pathway and gene ontology analysis were applied to determine the roles of the differentially expressed lncRNAs. Reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was used to quantify the differentially expressed lncRNAs. A total of 8,459 lncRNA and 13,214 mRNAs with differential expression between MCs treated with and without ALD were identified. The expression of lncRNAs was confirmed by RT-qPCR and the results were consistent with the lncRNA array. The biological functions of lncRNAs are associated with responding to external stimuli, positive regulation of biological and apoptotic processes, cell division, mitosis and nuclear division. The pathways include cell cycle and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor signaling pathways. The present study revealed distinct sets of lncRNA expressed in MCs treated with ALD, suggesting that this class of transcripts may be involved in the pathogenesis of chronic kidney diseases.