• Discovering Novel Biomarkers for Atherosclerosis-Induced Ischemic Stroke: Insights from lnc-SLC38A1 and lnc-SOD3 through Bioinformatics
  • Mahshid Malakootian,1 Majid Maleki,2 Akram Gholipour,3,*
    1. Cardiogenetic Research Center, Rajaie Cardiovascular Medical and Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
    2. Cardiogenetic Research Center, Rajaie Cardiovascular Medical and Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
    3. Cardiogenetic Research Center, Rajaie Cardiovascular Medical and Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran


  • Introduction: Atherosclerosis is a widespread condition arising from the accumulation of a sticky substance known as plaque within the arteries, and it is the leading cause of myocardial ischemia, which is the important cause of death globally. The progression of atherosclerosis occurs gradually, as cholesterol, fats, blood cells, and other blood components come together to form plaque. A clot could obstruct an artery, causing sudden and severe myocardial ischemia, which may lead to a heart attack. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) can regulate gene transcription and translation as epigenetic modification factors. However, their functional significance in atherosclerosis-induced ischemic stroke (AIIS) is unclear. The primary objective of this study is to present a potential lncRNAs as biomarker among atherosclerosis-induced ischemic stroke and normal samples through bioinformatics analysis.
  • Methods: The microarray dataset of lncRNAs transcriptomic profiles in atherosclerosis-induced ischemic stroke patients and healthy volunteers (GSE146882) was obtained from the GEO database. Differential expression analysis between patients and normal groups was performed using GEO2R and genes with differential expression were isolated. Next, genes with differential expression (logFC# 1 and p.value<0.05) were introduced and boxplot analysis was performed for analysis the probability of the selected gene as a biomarker.
  • Results: The bioinformatics results showed that the lnc-SLC38A1 (logFC= -1.543; P.value=4.76e-07) has the most downregulation in patients and lnc-SOD3 (logFC= 1.032; P.value=3.03e-04) has the most upregulation in atherosclerosis-induced ischemic stroke.
  • Conclusion: Overall, our data demonstrated that the differential lncRNAs expressions have potentially to be considered as biological biomarkers with diagnostic approaches. In this regard, the reduction of lnc-SLC38A1 and increasing lnc-SOD3 expression can probably be a biomarker to identify atherosclerosis-induced ischemic stroke, which should be confirmed in experimental analysis.
  • Keywords: atherosclerosis, lnc-SLC38A1, lnc-SOD3, biomarkers