MicroRNA Expression Profiling by RNASeq in Lichen Sclerosus

Lichen sclerosus (LS) is a chronic, inflammatory dermatitis that has a negative impact on the quality of life and may proceed to malignant disease. Development of non-invasive and reliable biomarkers with high sensitivity and specificity could potentially improve LS screening, diagnosis, and treatment. Aberrant expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) is considered to exert crucial roles in LS pathogenesis. In the present study, next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology and GeneSpring GX were used to determine the differentially expressed miRNAs between LS tissue and their adjacent normal controls. We identified 241 differentially expressed miRNAs between LS and normal tissue, including 115 upregulated miRNAs and 56 downregulated miRNAs. Further analysis of these differentially expressed miRNAs by miRPath v.3 confirmed important molecular pathways that are related to immune response. Based on fold-changes, p-values, description on GeneCards, and previous research, we focused on four miRNAs that are strongly related to immune response to further functional studies, including three upregulated (miR-326, miR-142-5p, and miR-92b-3p) and one downregulated (miR-664a-3p). Among them, miR-326 and miR-142-5p were subsequently validated using qRT-PCR in both LS tissue and blood sample from LS patients. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on miRNA expression profiling on female LS. These findings suggest that miRNAs play a significant role in LS pathogenesis, which could be used for LS therapy.

Author

• Yang, Canyuan

Language

• en

Date created

• 2021

Type of Work

• Master's Thesis

License

• All rights reserved

Rights statement

• In Copyright

GW Unit

• Bioinformatics and Molecular Biochemistry

Degree

• M.S.

Advisor

• Fu, Sidney W.

Committee Member(s)

• Lee, Jiyoung

Persistent URL

•  https://scholarspace.library.gwu.edu/etd/xd07gt51k