Exosomal Long Non-Coding RNA Expression from Serum of Patients with Acute Minor Stroke

BACKGROUND: Acute minor stroke (AMS) is one kind of hypoxic ischemic necrosis with no more than 4 National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score. However, the early diagnosis of AMS is tough for lack of effective molecular markers. Recently, many long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) associated with AMS have been gradually revealed. Here, we aim to find the potential biomarkers of lncRNAs in exosomes isolated from blood serum of patients with AMS for early detection. METHODS: RNA-seq technique, KEGG pathway analysis and GO enrichment analysis were used in this study. Besides, reverse transcription real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was used to validate expression levels of four of eleven differentially expressed lncRNAs (lnc-CRKL-2, lnc-NTRK3-4, RPS6KA2-AS1 and lnc-CALM1-7) involved in the neurotrophin signaling pathway. RESULTS: The expression levels of lnc-CRKL-2 (mean value 48, standard deviation 4.583, P = 0.003) and lnc-NTRK3-4 (mean value 32.3, standard deviation 2.08, P = 0.001) were increased significantly in AMS patients, while the expression levels of RPS6KA2-AS1 (mean value −118.7, standard deviation 7.09, P = 0.001) and lnc-CALM1-7 (mean value −148.7, standard deviation 6.10, P = 0.001) were decreased dramatically. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, these four new revealed lncRNAs may be used as novel joint biomarkers for the early detection of AMS.