A Pre-post Rehabilitation Study of Exosomal mRNA and lncRNA Expression Profiles Reveals Potential Role of UBE2G1 in Rehabilitation of Parkinson’s Disease
Yixuan Wang, Yonghong Liu, Boyan Fang, Cui Liu, Keke Chen, Detao Meng, Zhaohui JinObjective
Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and messenger RNAs (mRNAs) are implicated in the development and progression of Parkinson’s disease (PD). This study aims to examine the potential of any lncRNA as biomarkers underlying PD rehabilitation.
Methods
Pre-post rehabilitation study of lncRNA and mRNA expression profiles may identify the potential biomarkers associated with rehabilitation. We enrolled 6 patients with PD (PWP) and 6 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HCs) in this study. Peripheral blood samples were collected before and after 14-day rehabilitation treatment to extract total RNA from exosomes. Differentially expressed mRNAs (DEmRNAs) and differentially expressed lncRNAs (DElncRNAs) were identified by next-generation sequencing (NGS). A co-expression network was built.
Results
Overall, pre-post rehabilitation study of exosomal mRNA revealed 1,662 DEmRNAs (606 upregulated and 1,056 downregulated) in PWPs. Compared with the HCs, 1,723 DElncRNAs (1,278 upregulated and 445 downregulated lncRNAs) and 1,931 DElncRNAs (1,561 upregulated and 370 downregulated) were identified in the blood exosomes of pre-rehab and post-rehab PWPs, respectively. GO and KEEG enrichment analyses revealed significant enrichment of proteasome-mediated ubiquitin-dependent protein catabolic process, and ubiquitin mediated proteolysis pathways, suggesting their potential role in the progression of PD. Co-expression network analysis identified one DElncRNA (ENST00000421331) and one positively related DEmRNA (ENSG00000132388, UBE2G1). RT-qPCR validated that ENST00000421331 and ENSG00000132388 were significantly downregulated in the pre-rehab PWPs compared with the HCs (
Conclusion
This is the first report about the role of UBE2G1 in rehabilitation of PD patients. The preliminary findings suggest that UBE2G1 is implicated in PD rehabilitation. Correlation analyses between changes in UBE2G1/lncRNA expression and clinical outcomes, mechanistic study, and longitudinal validation are required to further confirm the role of UBE2G1 as a biomarker in PD rehabilitation.