Identification of Specific LncRNA Markers in Severe Tuberculosis for Early Diagnosis.

Background: The progression of tuberculosis to severe disease is the main cause of death of tuberculosis patients. Early identification of severe tuberculosis is very important. LncRNA can be used as a potential marker in the diagnosis of tuberculosis, but there is a lack of research on lncRNA in the field of severe tuberculosis.

Methods: Peripheral blood samples of severe pulmonary tuberculosis patients, mild pulmonary tuberculosis patients and healthy controls were collected to extract peripheral blood monocytes. The RNA was then extracted and sent to the SBC human ceRNA V1.0 analysis. The results were verified by qPCR and analyzed by KEGG and GO analyses. Differentially expressed lncRNAs were measured by ROC curves.

Results: Four lncRNAs exhibited statistically distinct expression patterns in STB versus MTB groups (NR_033909: p=0.0097; lnc-MYCBPAP-2:4: p=0.0053; lnc-PRDM7-1:2: p<0.0001; NR_033841: p=0.0279). The areas under the curve (AUC) value are respectively 0.7280(lnc-PRDM7-1:2), 0.7288(lnc-MYCBPAP-2:4), 0.6647(NR_033909) and 0.6615(NR_033841).

Conclusion: LncRNAs NR_033909, lnc-MYCBPAP-2:4, lnc-PRDM7-1:2 and NR_033841 may demonstrate diagnostic potential for differentiating severe from mild pulmonary tuberculosis cases. These results create a platform for monitoring TB progression and open new avenues for studying disease pathogenesis.