The long non-coding RNA plays critical roles in the pathogenesis of cholesterol gallstone.

BACKGROUND

Cholesterol gallstone (CG) is the most common gallstone disease, which is induced by biliary cholesterol supersaturation. The purpose of this study is to investigate the pathogenesis of CG.

METHODS

Sixteen mice were equally and randomly divided into model group and normal control group. The model group was fed with lithogenic diets to induce CG, and then gallbladder bile lipid analysis was performed. After RNA-seq library was constructed, differentially expressed mRNAs (DE-mRNAs) and differentially expressed lncRNAs (DE-lncRNAs) between model group and normal control group were analyzed by DESeq2 package. Using the cluster Profiler package, enrichment analysis for the DE-mRNAs was carried out. Based on Cytoscape software, the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network and competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network were built. Using quantitative real-time reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis, the key RNAs were validated.

RESULTS

The mouse model of CG was suc cessfully established, and then 181 DE-mRNAs and 33 DE-lncRNAs between model and normal groups were obtained. Moreover, KDM4A was selected as a hub node in the PPI network, and lncRNA was considered as a key lncRNA in the regulatory network. Additionally, the regulatory pairs and co-expression pairs existed in the regulatory network. The qRT-PCR analysis showed that expression was increased, and the expressions of , , , and were downregulated.

CONCLUSION

These RNAs might be related to the pathogenesis of CG.