Expression Profiles and Potential Functions of Long Non-Coding RNAs in the Heart of Mice With Coxsackie B3 Virus-Induced Myocarditis.

Aims: Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are critical regulators of viral infection and inflammatory responses. However, the roles of lncRNAs in acute myocarditis (AM), especially fulminant myocarditis (FM), remain unclear.

Methods: FM and non-fulminant myocarditis (NFM) were induced by coxsackie B3 virus (CVB3) in different mouse strains. Then, the expression profiles of the lncRNAs in the heart tissues were detected by sequencing. Finally, the patterns were analyzed by Pearson/Spearman rank correlation, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes, and Cytoscape 3.7.

Results: First, 1,216, 983, 1,606, and 2,459 differentially expressed lncRNAs were identified in CVB3-treated A/J, C57BL/6, BALB/c, and C3H mice with myocarditis, respectively. Among them, 88 lncRNAs were commonly dysregulated in all four models. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction analyses further confirmed that four out of the top six commonly dysregulated lncRNAs were upregulated in all four models. Moreover, the levels of ENSMUST00000188819, ENSMUST00000199139, and ENSMUST00000222401 were significantly elevated in the heart and spleen and correlated with the severity of cardiac inflammatory infiltration. Meanwhile, 923 FM-specific dysregulated lncRNAs were detected, among which the levels of MSTRG.26098.49, MSTRG.31307.11, MSTRG.31357.2, and MSTRG.32881.28 were highly correlated with LVEF.

Conclusion: Expression of lncRNAs is significantly dysregulated in acute myocarditis, which may play different roles in the progression of AM.