Differentially expressed lncRNAs, miRNAs and mRNAs with associated ceRNA networks in a mouse model of myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury

Non-coding RNAs, including long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and microRNAs (miRNAs/miRs), have significant regulatory effects on a number of biological processes in myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury, including cell differentiation, proliferation and apoptosis. In the present study, the expression levels of lncRNAs, miRNAs and mRNAs were evaluated in a mouse model of myocardial I/R injury. The potential functions of these differentially expressed genes were then analyzed via Gene Ontology and pathway analyses. Additionally, the interactions between lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA were predicted by constructing a competing endogenous RNA regulatory network. It was found that 14,366 lncRNAs, 151 miRNAs and 9,377 mRNAs were differentially expressed in mice hearts after I/R compared with the Sham group (fold change >2; P<0.05). The results indicated that these differentially expressed genes were involved in multiple molecular functions, including ‘guanosine diphosphate binding’, ‘RNA polymerase II carboxy-terminal domain kinase activity’, ‘TATA-binding protein-class protein binding’, ‘nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide binding’ and ‘protein phosphatase type 2A regulator activity’. The interactions between lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA, including five lncRNAs, 38 miRNAs and 196 mRNAs, were predicted, specifically Gm12040-mmu-miR-125a-5p-decapping mRNA 1B, Rpl7l1-ps1-mmu-miR-124-3p-G protein-coupled receptor 146, Gm11407-mmu-miR-190a-5p-homeobox and leucine zipper encoding (HOMEZ), 1600029O15Rik-mmu-miR-132-3p-HOMEZ and AK155692-mmu-miR-1224-3p-activating transcription factor 6β. Collectively, these findings provided novel insights for future research on lncRNAs, miRNAs and mRNAs in myocardial I/R injury.