Local airway expression of lnc-SERPINA12-1 in children with Cystic Fibrosis

The aim of our study was to explore if changes in long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) expression during pulmonary exacerbation correlate with the immune responses peripherally or in the airways of cystic fibrosis (CF) pediatric patients. Based on previously performed gene expression microarrays analysis, we selected four lncRNAs: lnc-PPP4R1-8, lnc-SLC44A5-1, lnc-MRC2-1, lnc-SERPINA12-1 for quantitative PCR expression study. Whole blood and sputum cell pellets were collected from CF pediatric patients during exacerbation and remission. We also used sputum supernatant from 12 CF patients (6 during PE and 6 in remission) to analyse the expression of selected lncRNAs in sputum-derived extracellular vesicles (EV). RNA was extracted from whole blood, sputum cell pellet, and precipitated EV. Differential gene expression analysis was done using ddCT method in MedCalc statistical software. We found that lnc-SERPINA12-1 showed significantly higher expression in sputum than in peripheral blood (p&lt;0.05). Other lncRNAs were not differentially expressed between blood and sputum. All investigated lncRNAs were present in EV. This lnc-SERPINA12-1 showed the greatest difference between PE and remission, but without statistical significance (p&gt;0.05). According to the literature, lnc-SERPINA12-1 is antisense of the SERPINA12 gene encoding Vaspin that exerts an anti-inflammatory effect. <b>Conclusions:</b> Higher expression of lnc-SERPINA12-1 in sputum indicate increased chronic inflammatory responses in the airways of CF patients, and its presence in EV suggests that it may participate in mediating the local inflammatory effect. The study was supported by the Polish National Science Centre, grant no. 2016/22/E/NZ5/00383 (A. Szczepankiewicz).