Expression and diagnostic value of lncRNA HCG18 in gestational diabetes mellitus.

Objectives: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is the first type of diabetes induced by abnormal maternal glucose metabolism after pregnancy. Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) has been found to be of great value in the study of its pathogenesis and treatment. This study aimed to explore the expression and diagnostic value of lncRNA HCG18 in GDM.

Material and methods: The expression levels of HCG18 in serum of participating GDM patients and healthy controls were detected by polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). The correlation between the expression of HCG18 and the blood glucose level was clarified by the detection of blood glucose levels in GDM patients. The receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was used to evaluate the clinical diagnostic value of HCG18 for GDM. Furthermore, multivariate logistic analysis was used to verify the diagnostic value of HCG18 in GDM.

Results: This study concluded that the expression level of HCG18 was upregulated in the serum of GDM patients compared with the control group. ROC curve showed that the AUC was 0.916, the sensitivity was 80.5%, the specificity was 90.2%, and multivariate logistic regression analysis verified that HCG18 (OR = 6.984, 95% CI = 3.751-13.005, p < 0.001) was significantly associated with GDM, which suggesting that HCG18 has diagnostic significance for GDM. In addition, the expression of HCG18 was positively correlated with fasting blood glucose, 1h blood glucose and 2 h blood glucose of patients.

Conclusions: LncRNA HCG18 was elevated in patient serum and might serve as a diagnostic biomarker for GDM.