The implication of circulating long non-coding RNA MALAT1 in diagnosis, disease surveillance and prognosis of acute ischemic stroke

Abstract Background We aimed to investigate predictive value of long non-coding RNA metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (lnc-MALAT1) for acute ischemic stroke (AIS) risk, and the association of lnc-MALAT1 expression with disease severity, inflammation as well as recurrence free survival (RFS) in AIS patients.Methods 120 AIS patients and 120 controls were recruited. Venous blood samples from AIS patients (within 24 hours after symptoms onset) and controls (at entry to study) were collected to detect plasma lnc-MALAT1 expression by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. For AIS patients, AIS severity was assessed by NIHSS score; plasma concentrations of inflammation factors (including C-reactive protein (CRP), tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-17 and IL-22) were measure; and RFS was calculated.Results Lnc-MALAT1 expression was decreased in AIS patients compared to controls, and it had a good predictive value for AIS risk (AUC=0.791, 95% CI: 0.735-0.846). For disease condition, lnc-MALAT1 expression negatively correlated with NIHSS score and pro-inflammatory factors expressions (including CRP, TNF-α, IL-6, IL-8 and IL-22), while it positively correlated with anti-inflammatory factor IL-10 expression. Besides, lnc-MALAT1 expression was elevated in AIS complicated with diabetes but numerically reduced in AIS complicated with hepertension. For prognosis, lnc-MALAT1 high expression numerically correlated with longer RFS, but without statistical significance.Conclusion lnc-MALAT1 is downregulated and has a good predictive value of AIS risk, and its high expression correlates with decreased NIHSS score, reduced inflammation, as well as numerically better RFS in AIS patients.