Evaluation of MALAT-1 and HOTAIR LncRNAs Expression Levels in Incidence of Hemophilia

Background and purpose: LncRNAs are a group of non-coding RNAs with more than 200 nucleotides involved in transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression, that have a potential role in diagnosis, prevention and treatment of some disorders such as cancers. There is paucity of information about their involvement in hemophilia disease. This study aimed at discovering the relationship between expression levels of two common LncRNAs (MALAT-1 and HOTAIR) and incidence of hemophilia A in Iranian male patients. Materials and methods: In this case-control study two common LncRNAs (HOTAIR and MALAT-1) were selected for gene expression analysis using quantitative Real-time PCR based on their features. At first, 5 ml of whole blood in EDTA anti-coagulant tube was collected from 50 severe hemophilia A male patients and 50 healthy male donors. Then, total RNA was extracted from peripheral blood and the cDNA was synthesized by reverse transcription method. After that, the expression of the selected LncRNAs was analyzed using qRT-PCR. Finally, the gene expression ratios for the LncRNAs were analyzed using REST-2009. Results: A comparison between the hemophilia and non-hemophilia (healthy) groups demonstrated that the mean expression levels of two selected LncRNAs (MALAT-1 and HOTAIR) were significantly lower in hemophilia A samples compared with normal samples (P< 0.05). Conclusion: The low expression levels of HOTAIR and MALAT-1 LncRNAs may be associated with incidence of disease in hemophilia A male patients.