Integrative Analysis for the Roles of lncRNAs in the Immune Responsesof Mouse PBMC Exposed to Low-Dose Ionizing Radiation

摘要

It is well accepted that low-dose ionizing radiation (LDIR) modulates a varietyof immune responses that have exhibited the properties of immune hormesis.Alterations in messenger RNA (mRNA) and long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) expressionwere to crucially underlie these LDIR responses. However, lncRNAs inLDIR-induced immune responses have been rarely reported, and its functions andmolecular mechanisms have not yet been characterized. Here, we used microarrayprofiling to determine lncRNA in BALB/c mice exposed to single (0.5 Gy×1) andchronic (0.05 Gy×10) low-dose γ-rays radiation (Co ). We observedthat a total of 8274 lncRNAs and 7240 mRNAs were altered in single LDIR, while2077 lncRNAs and 796 mRNAs in chronic LDIR. The biological functions of theseupregulated mRNAs in both 2 groups using Gene Ontology functional and pathwayenrichment analysis were significantly enriched in immune processes and immunesignaling pathways. Subsequently, we screened out the lncRNAs involved inregulating these immune signaling pathways and examined their potentialfunctions by lncRNAs-mRNAs coexpression networks. This is the first study tocomprehensively identify lncRNAs in single and chronic LDIR responses and todemonstrate the involvement of different lncRNA expression patterns inLDIR-induced immune signaling pathways. Further systematic research on theselncRNAs will provide new insights into our understanding of LDIR-modulatedimmune hormesis responses.