AUTHOR=Li Hongyu , Gao Lixiong , Du Jinlin , Ma Tianju , Ye Zi , Li Zhaohui 

TITLE=Differentially expressed gene profiles and associated ceRNA network in ATG7-Deficient lens epithelial cells under oxidative stress

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Genetics

VOLUME=Volume 13 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/genetics/articles/10.3389/fgene.2022.1088943

DOI=10.3389/fgene.2022.1088943

ISSN=1664-8021

ABSTRACT=Oxidation is an essential factor during cataract development. Autophagy, usually a cytoprotective process, is always found elevated in lens epithelial cells (LECs) under oxidation, yet its roles and associated molecular mechanisms under such circumstances are rarely elucidated. Herein, we extracted and re-analyzed the RNA sequencing data of GSE161701 dataset from GEO database to identify the differentially expressed mRNAs and lncRNAs by using the R package of “DESeq2”. Further analyses of GO and KEGG enrichment were implemented via packages of “clusterProfiler” and “enrichplot”. We found that after knockout of ATG7, differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were more associated with hemopoiesis, vasculature development, axonogenesis and hypoxia regulation. When stimulated with H2O2, LECs displayed a gene expression profile correlating with apoptotic and proliferative pathways, such as MAPK signaling pathway and FoxO signaling pathway. The differentially expressed gene profiles of the two types of LECs (wild type and ATG7 deficient) under oxidation was distinct to a large extent. Furthermore, 1341 up-regulated and 1912 down-regulated differential mRNAs and 263 up-regulated and 336 down-regulated differential lncRNAs between these two types of LECs subjected to H2O2 were detected, among which 292 mRNAs and 24 lncRNAs were possibly interacted with ten cataract-related miRNAs. A competing endogenous lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA network based on such interactions were finally constructed.