• Analysis of long non-coding RNA expression among Iranian hemophilia A patients
  • Elnaz Agi,1 Ali Namvar,2 Azam Bolhassani,3,*
    1. Iranian Comprehensive Hemophilia Care Center, Tehran, Iran
    2. Iranian Comprehensive Hemophilia Care Center, Tehran, Iran
    3. Department of Hepatitis and AIDS, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran


  • Introduction: LncRNAs are a group of non-coding RNAs with more than 200 nucleotides involved in transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression, and have potential in diagnosis, prevention and treatment of disorders like cancers. The goal of this study was to determine the relationship between the expression levels of specific lncRNAs and the incidence of hemophilia A in Iranian population.
  • Methods: Two lncRNAs (NONHSAT139215.2 and NONHSAT139219.2) were selected by the bioinformatics data for gene expression analysis using quantitative Real-time PCR based on their features. A 5 ml of whole blood in EDTA anti-coagulant tube was collected from 50 severe Hemophilia A male patients and 50 healthy male donors. Total RNA was extracted from peripheral blood using Favorgen Total RNA extraction Mini Kit. The cDNA was synthesized by reverse transcription method using Takara PrimeScript RT Reagent Kit. The expression of the selected lncRNAs was analyzed using qRT-PCR. The levels of lncRNAs were normalized by β2-microglobulin (B2M) expression levels as an internal control. The Pfaffl method was used to calculate relative gene expression, while accounting for differences in primer efficiency. The gene expression ratios for the lncRNAs were analyzed by the REST-2009 software.
  • Results: A comparison between the hemophilia and non-hemophilia groups demonstrated that the mean expression levels of two selected lncRNAs were significantly lower in hemophilia A samples compared to normal samples (p < 0.05).
  • Conclusion: Briefly, the low expression levels of NONHSAT139215.2 and NONHSAT139219.2 lncRNAs may be correlated with disease intensity in hemophilia A male patients.
  • Keywords: Hemophilia A; factor VIII; long non-coding RNAs, Real-time PCR