Changes in lncRNAs and related genes in β-thalassemia minor and β-thalassemia major

beta-thalassemia is caused by beta-globin gene mutations. However, heterogeneous phenotypes were found in individuals with same genotype, and still undescribed mechanism underlies such variation. We collected blood samples from 30 beta-thalassemia major, 30 beta-thalassemia minor patients, and 30 matched normal controls. Human lncRNA Array v2.0 (8 x 60 K, Arraystar) was used to detect changes in long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and mRNAs in three samples each from beta-thalassemia major, beta-thalassemia minor, and control groups. Compared with normal controls, 1424 and 2045 lncRNAs were up-and downregulated, respectively, in beta-thalassemia major patients, whereas 623 and 349 lncRNAs were up-and downregulated, respectively, in beta-thalassemia minor patients. Compared with beta-thalassemia minor group, 1367 and 2356 lncRNAs were up-and downregulated, respectively, in beta-thalassemia major group. We selected five lncRNAs that displayed altered expressions (DQ583499, X-inactive specific transcript (Xist), lincRNA-TPM1, MRFS16P, and lincRNA-RUNX2-2) and confirmed their expression levels in all samples using real-time polymerase chain reaction. Based on coding-noncoding gene co-expression network and gene ontology biological process analyses, several signaling pathways were associated with three common organ systems exhibiting beta-thalassemia phenotypes: hematologic, skeletal, and hepatic systems. This study implicates that abnormal expression levels of lncRNAs and mRNA in beta-thalassemia cases may be correlated with its various clinical phenotypes.