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Abstract
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a typical autoimmune disease characterized by production of a variety of autoantibodies and various organs damage. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are novel class of endogenous noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) which have been involved in the development of various diseases. However, there is little knowledge about their associations with SLE. The aim of our study was to compare the plasma expression levels of circPTPN22, miR-200a-3p and IL-2 in SLE patients with that of healthy controls. The study was conducted on 45 SLE patients and 45 healthy individuals who served as the control group. The expression levels of circPTPN22 and miR-200a-3p were evaluated in the plasma of both groups by real time reverse transcription -polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). while plasma levels of IL-2 were determined using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique. SLE patients showed significantly lower plasma expression levels of circPTPN22 (P < 0.001), higher plasma expression levels of miR-200a-3p (P < 0.001) and lower plasma IL-2 levels (P < 0.001) compared to the control group. There was a statistically significant negative correlation between the expression levels of circPTPN22 and miR-200a-3p in the plasma of SLE patients (r = -0.567, P = < 0.001). However, no correlation was detected between the expression levels IL-2 and each of circPTPN22 (r = 0.170, P = 0.265) and miR-200a-3p (r = -0.284, P = 0.059). CircPTPN22, miR-200a-3p and IL-2 are potential non-invasive biomarkers in SLE diagnosis and potential therapeutic targets. Further studies are required to investigate the role of circPTPN22 and miR-200a-3p in the pathogenesis of SLE