Expression profile of serum LncRNAs MALAT-1 and CCAT-1 and their correlation with Mayo severity score in ulcerative colitis patients can diagnose and predict the prognosis of the disease

Marwa A Ali; Olfat G Shaker; El Shimaa Gomaa Ali; Eman M Ezzat; Abeer A Khalifa; Essam A Hassan; Marwa A Habib; Heba Mostafa Ahmed; Asmaa F A Dawood; Esam Ali Mohamed

doi:10.1016/j.ncrna.2024.01.012

Expression profile of serum LncRNAs MALAT-1 and CCAT-1 and their correlation with Mayo severity score in ulcerative colitis patients can diagnose and predict the prognosis of the disease

Noncoding RNA Res. 2024 Jan 22;9(2):318-329. doi: 10.1016/j.ncrna.2024.01.012. eCollection 2024 Jun.

Authors

Marwa A Ali^{1

2}, Olfat G Shaker³, El Shimaa Gomaa Ali⁴, Eman M Ezzat⁵, Abeer A Khalifa⁶, Essam A Hassan⁷, Marwa A Habib⁶, Heba Mostafa Ahmed⁸, Asmaa F A Dawood^{2

9}, Esam Ali Mohamed¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medical Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Fayoum University, Fayoum, Egypt.
² Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, King Faisal University, Alhasa, Saudi Arabia.
³ Department of Medical Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.
⁴ Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Fayoum University, Fayoum, Egypt.
⁵ Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Fayoum University, Fayoum, Egypt.
⁶ Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, Egypt.
⁷ Department of Tropical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Fayoum University, Fayoum, Egypt.
⁸ Department Clinical and Chemical Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Fayoum University, Fayoum, Egypt.
⁹ Department of Histology, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt.

Abstract

Background: Ulcerative colitis (UC) has emerged as an accelerated-incidence chronic condition. UC has been identified as a precancerous lesion for colorectal cancer. Up-to-date genomic research revealed the value of many noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) in UC pathogenesis, diagnosis, and prognosis.

Aim: The present study was aimed at measuring both MALAT-1 and CCAT-1 in the sera of UC patients as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers and correlating them with the Mayo score which is a novel predictive indicator of malignant transformation as well as with clinicopathological characteristics of the disease.

Patients and methods: Sixty-six UC patients and 80 healthy individuals participated in this study, the serum fold changes of MALAT-1 and CCAT-1 were measured by using quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR).

Results: The current study findings include overexpressed lncRNAs MALAT-1 and CCAT-1 in the sera of ulcerative colitis patients [(median (IQR) = 2.290 (0.16-9.36), mean ± SD = 3.37 ± 3.904 for MALAT-1, and median (IQR) = 7.305 (0.57-16.96), mean ± SD = 6.81 ± 4.002 for CCAT-1 than controls, ROC curve analysis reported that these genes could predict UC. Both genes were positively correlated with each other which enforces their synergistic effects. Both genes are diagnostic for UC patients.We related studied genes to the severity of the disease. In addition to a significant positive correlation between each gene with ESR and Mayo score, we further classified the patients according to severity (according to Mayo score to remission, mild, moderate, and severe groups) with the following results; lower levels of MALAT-1 and CCAT-1 were significantly associated with mild disease and increased gradually with more severe forms of the disease (p < 0.05). Linear regression analysis with Mayo Score as a dependent variable revealed that only the predictive power of CCAT-1 and ESR are significant. Moreover, ROC curve analysis when compared to that of the Mayo score revealed that CCAT-1 reached 99 % accuracy. In summary, both genes are prognostic factors for UC patients.

Conclusion: MALAT-1 and CCAT-1 are diagnostic and prognostic serum biomarkers of ulcerative colitis.

Keywords: CCAT-1; MALAT-1; Mayo score; Ulcerative colitis.