Non‐coding RNAs and related molecules associated with form‐deprivation myopia in mice

The role of miRNAs and its regulatory mechanism in myopia are indeterminate. Our study aimed to investigate potential myopia‐associated non‐coding RNAs and related molecules by performing a comprehensive bioinformatic analysis of miRNA expression profile of mice with form‐deprivation myopia (FDM). Differentially expressed miRNAs in two raw microarray data sets (GSE58124 and GSE84220) from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database were comprehensively analysed using GEO2R. Target genes were predicted using miRDB and enriched with Metascape online tool. Protein‐protein interaction (PPI) networks were constructed utilizing STRING and Cytoscape. Significant differentially expressed miRNAs were validated by real‐time polymerase chain reaction (qRT‐PCR) using RNA extracted from monocular FDM ocular tissues. As result, we identified three upregulated miRNAs (mmu‐miR‐1936, mmu‐miR‐338‐5p, and mmu‐miR‐673‐3p) significantly associated with myopia in the two microarray data sets (p < 0.05 and |Log (Fold Change) |>1). GO functional analysis suggested these three miRNAs were targeted in genes mostly enriched in morphogenesis and developmental growth of retinal tissues. Enrichment analysis revealed top eight transcription factors, including PAX6 and Smad3, related to myopia. Ten hub genes, including Rbx1, Fbxl3, Fbxo27, Fbxl7, Fbxo4, Cul3, Cul2, Klhl5, Fbxl16 and Klhl42, associated with ubiquitin conjugation were identified. qRT‐PCR confirmed the increased expression of mmu‐miR‐1936 and mmu‐miR‐338‐5p (p < 0.05), but no statistical difference was observed in mmu‐miR‐673‐3p expression in myopic retinas. Our findings indicated mmu‐miR‐1936, mmu‐miR‐338‐5p and mmu‐miR‐673‐3p upregulation may be associated with myopia development via post‐transcriptional gene regulation, and identified potential molecules that could be further explored in future studies of the mechanism in myopia.