Correlation of differential expression of MEG3 lnc-RNA with biochemical parameters in Type-II diabetic patients with and without diabetic kidney disease

Abstract

Background & Objectives: Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is a complication of type-II diabetes mellitus (DM) leading to significant morbidity and mortality. Long non-coding RNAs (lnc-RNAs) are a class of ribonucleic acid that exert their effects in development of such complications through epigenetic modifications. The study was conducted with the objectives to compare the relative expression of MEG3 lnc-RNA in patients of Type-II DM, with and without DKD, and to determine the correlation of this expression with blood and urine biomarkers.

Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted at the University of Health Sciences, Lahore, after ethical approval from December 2022 till October 2023. Study participants were recruited in three groups having DKD, Type-II DM and healthy individuals, each group having 68 participants. Analysis of blood and urine biomarkers was performed. MEG3 lnc-RNA expression was determined by using RT-PCR. Kruskal Wallis test, post hoc Mann-Whitney U test and Spearman’s correlation were used for data analysis.

Results: The relative expression of MEG3 lnc-RNA was significantly higher in the DKD group (median=3.83, IQR=1.22-3.83) as compared to the DM (median= 2.22, IQR= 0.49-3.12) and healthy groups (median= 1.97, IQR= 1.17-1.97) with a p-value of 0.002. There was a significant positive correlation between MEG3 expression and fasting insulin in the DKD group, a significant negative correlation with fasting insulin in the DM group, a significant negative correlation with serum very low-density lipoproteins in the healthy group, and a significant negative correlation between MEG3 lnc-RNA expression and urinary creatinine in the DKD group.

Conclusions: MEG3 lnc-RNA has a higher relative expression in the patients suffering from DKD in the local diabetic population. In future, it may be used as a diagnostic marker as well as for inducing epigenetic modification through RNA transfection.