Genome-wide screening of functional long noncoding RNAs in the epicardial adipose tissues of atrial fibrillation.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmias, and patients with AF are facing increased risk of heart failure and ischemic stroke. However, the AF pathogenesis, especially the long noncoding RNAs (lncRNA)-related mechanism, has not been fully understood. In this study, we collected RNA sequencing data of the epicardial adipose tissues (EAT) from 6 AF and 6 sinus rhythm (SR) to identify the differentially expressed protein-coding genes (PCGs) and lncRNAs. Functionally, the differentially expressed PCGs were significantly enriched in bone development disease, chronic kidney failure, and kidney disease. Particularly, we found that homeobox (HOX) genes, especially the antisense RNAs, HOTAIRM1, HOXA-AS2 and HOXB-AS2, were significantly downregulated in EAT of AF. The biological function predictions for the dysregulated lncRNAs revealed that TNF signaling pathway was the most frequent pathway that the lncRNAs might participate in. In addition, SNHG16 and RP11-471B22.2 might participate in TGF-beta signaling and ECM-receptor interaction by interacting with the proteins involved in the pathways, respectively. Collectively, we provided some potentially pathogenic lncRNAs in AF, which might be useful for the related researchers to study their functionality and develop new therapeutics.