Identification of deregulated lncRNAs in Alzheimer's disease: an integrated gene co-expression network analysis of hippocampus and fusiform gyrus RNA-seq datasets

Abstract

Introduction: The deregulation of lncRNAs expression has been associated with neuronal damage in Alzheimer's disease (AD), but how or whether they can influence its onset is still unknown. We investigated 2 RNA-seq datasets consisting, respectively, of the hippocampal and fusiform gyrus transcriptomic profile of AD patients, matched with non-demented controls.

Methods: We performed a differential expression analysis, a gene correlation network analysis (WGCNA) and a pathway enrichment analysis of two RNA-seq datasets.

Results: We found deregulated lncRNAs in common between hippocampus and fusiform gyrus and deregulated gene groups associated to functional pathways related to neurotransmission and memory consolidation. lncRNAs, co-expressed with known AD-related coding genes, were identified from the prioritized modules of both brain regions.

Discussion: We found common deregulated lncRNAs in the AD hippocampus and fusiform gyrus, that could be considered common signatures of AD pathogenesis, providing an important source of information for understanding the molecular changes of AD.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; RNA-Seq; WGCNA; differentially expressed genes; lncRNAs.