Genome-wide identification of lncRNAs and mRNAs differentially expressed in human vascular smooth muscle cells stimulated by high phosphorus

Cardiovascular events are the primary cause of death for chronic kidney disease patients, which occurred via vascular calcification evolving pathogenically. Although a high level of phosphorus contributes to the induction of osteogenic differentiation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs), the role of lncRNA in this process awaits further study. In this study, we systematically investigated the variation of gene expression in human VSMCs induced by high phosphorus. LncRNAs and mRNAs expression were revealed by microarray analyses of the control group and high-phosphorus (HP) group. LncRNA-mRNA co-expression network was established based on the specific lncRNA-mRNA relationships. Hierarchical clustering was used to identify a common set of regulated genes. In addition, Gene Ontology enrichment, Kyoto Gene-Encyclopedia and genomic analyses were conducted for the mRNAs differentially expressed under high phosphorus. RT-qPCR results confirmed that the expression of RUNX2, BMP2 and osteocalcin in HP group exhibited significant increases than in control group (p p This study provided a working list of lncRNAs that may be relevant to osteogenic differentiation, which presents a new insights into the mechanism of vascular calcification induced by high phosphorus in VSMCs.