Expression Profile of Noncoding RNAs and mRNA in Children with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus. Expression Profile of Noncoding RNAs and mRNA in Children with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) are reported to play crucial roles in many physiological and biological processes. However, knowledge of ncRNAs in children with systemic lupus erythematosus (cSLE) remains limited. Therefore, we investigate the ncRNA expression profile of cSLE. Microarrays were performed to identify changes in ncRNA and mRNA expression between children with SLE and paired healthy children. Overall design: All samples from patients with SLE were obtained from the Department of Rheumatology of Beijing Children’s Hospital (Beijing, China). All patients with SLE fulfilled at least four of the revised criteria for SLE by the American College of Rheumatology (ACR). The control group included healthy volunteers with no history of autoimmune disease or immunosuppressive therapy. Four children first diagnosed with untreated SLE and four ‘control’ children were used for microarray analysis.

非编码RNA（noncoding RNAs, ncRNAs）已被证实可在众多生理及生物学过程中发挥关键作用。然而目前针对儿童系统性红斑狼疮（cSLE）患者体内ncRNAs的相关研究仍较为匮乏。为此，本研究针对cSLE患者的ncRNA表达谱展开探究。本研究通过微阵列芯片技术，对比分析SLE患儿与配对健康儿童的ncRNA及信使RNA（mRNA）表达差异。
实验整体设计：所有SLE患者样本均采集自中国北京儿童医院风湿免疫科。所有入组SLE患者均满足美国风湿病学会（American College of Rheumatology, ACR）修订的SLE分类标准中至少4项条款。对照组纳入无自身免疫性疾病史及免疫抑制治疗史的健康志愿者。本研究共纳入4名初诊且未接受治疗的SLE患儿，以及4名对照儿童，用于微阵列芯片分析。