Identification of atrial fibrillation-associated lncRNAs and exploration of their functions based on WGCNA and ceRNA network analyses

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common cardiac arrhythmia that induces serious complications. However, pharmacological treatments of AF remain challenging. This study aimed to screen crucial long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), microRNAs (miRNAs) and messenger RNA (mRNAs) for using the microarray datasets (lncRNAs mRNAs: GSE79768, GSE115574; miRNAs: GSE68475) collected from Gene Expression Omnibus database. Weighted correlation network analysis GSE79768 GSE115574 identified five modules were highly related status. Among 118 module-related differentially expressed mRNAs, FBXW7, EGFR, CXCR2, ROCK1 UBE2D1 considered as hub genes according gene significance, module membership topological characteristics nodes in protein-protein interaction network. lncRNA MIR100HG LINC01105 may function by co-expressing with (MIR100HG-ROCK1/FBXW7/UBE2D1, LINC01105-EGFR) mRNAs or sponging miRNAs regulate (LINC01105-miR-125a-3p-EGFR, MIR100HG-miR-200b-3p- MIR100HG-miR-561-3p-CXCR2, MIR100HG-miR-548z-UBE2D1). Connectivity Map Comparative Toxicogenomics Database searches predicted dexamethasone treat reversing expression MIR100HG; artemisinin reverse DEGs. In conclusion, our results provide novel molecular mechanisms potential therapeutic targets drugs AF.