Ghrelin intronic lncRNAs, and , as novel biomarkers in type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Background: We aim to identify circulating lncRNAs located in the region of the () gene that play a role in the development of T2DM.

Methods: Bioinformatic tool was used to identify candidates -lncRNAs. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to compare the expression levels of selected lncRNAs on diabetic patients and non-diabetic controls.Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to evaluate the discriminatory power of selected -lncRNAs.

Results: The bioinformatic analysis predicted three antisense and eight sense-intronic - lncRNAs. Two differentially expressed -lncRNAs were detected in diabetic patients. The expression levels of , and the mRNA were significantly ( ≤ .0001) lower in the diabetic patients. ROC analysis showed that the area under the curve (AUC) value was 0.93 for and 0.90 for

Conclusion: lnc--3:2 and lnc--3:3 are novel biomarkers and might play a regulatory role in T2DM pathogenesis.