Vitamin D status influences cytokine production and MALAT1 expression from the PBMCs of patients with coronary artery disease and healthy controls.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to investigate the long non-coding RNA metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (lncRNA MALAT1) expression and its role in cytokine production from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and non-CAD participants (NCAD).

METHODS

Blood samples were taken from 15 patients with CAD and 15 NCAD individuals. The plasma was used for biochemical analyses. MALAT1 and CD36 expressions were evaluated in the isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) by real-time PCR. Furthermore, the levels of inflammatory cytokines e.g. interleukin (IL)-6, IL-10, and IL-22 were measured in the supernatants of the cultured PBMCs by flow cytometry.

RESULTS

The levels of MALAT1 and CD36 were not significantly different between the CAD and NCAD groups. However, a lower level of MALAT1 and CD36 was observed in PBMCs of vitamin D deficient (<15 ng/ml) CAD and NCAD participants. Furthermore, the vitamin D deficient (<15 ng/ml) group showed a significantly higher plasma level of IL-6, IL-10, and IL-22 compared to the non-deficient (≥15 ng/ml) group. In addition, significant positive correlations were found between CD36, IL-22, and fasting blood sugar (FBS) with MALAT1.

CONCLUSION

Given that in vitamin D deficient individuals a decreased level of MALAT1 was associated with CD36 expression and increased IL-22 production, vitamin D supplementation may play a role in reducing MALAT1/CD36/IL-22 mediated complications such as T2DM and CAD, especially in vitamin D deficiency.