Integrative analysis of serum-derived exosomal lncRNA profiles of alveolar echinococcosis patients

Alveolar echinococcosis is a severe zoonotic disease caused by the pseudotumoral intrahepatic development of the larval stage of the tapeworm Echinococcus multilocularis. The diagnosis of alveolar echinococcosis is hard since it has features of liver cancer. LncRNAs are among the non-coding RNAs that have received the most attention in recent biomarker studies. Here, we aimed to identify the serum-derived exosomal lncRNAs associated with alveolar echinococcosis in humans with RNA-seq. After RNA isolation from exosomes, we performed RNA-seq to determine the lncRNAs. We found 8 target genes in the cis direction and a total of 6468 gene targets for lncRNAs were identified in the trans direction. Totally 621 mRNA transcripts were found as differentially expressed between the controls and patients. 278 of them were up-regulated and 343 were down-regulated. Moreover, 234 lncRNAs were found as differentially expressed between the controls and patients. 58 of them were up-regulated, and 176 of them were down-regulated. The top five biological pathways regulated by identified lncRNAs were detected in this study. As a result, it is thought that these results will contribute to lncRNA-based biomarker studies that can be used in the early diagnosis of alveolar echinococcosis in humans.