Revista de la Facultad de Medicina de la UNAM

This study aimed to evaluate whether serum from patients with primary antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is associated with changes in the expression of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in endothelial cells. Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were cultured with serum from 12 female patients with APS or 8 age-matched healthy female controls. The expression levels of HIF1A-AS1, OIP5-AS1, and GAS5 were quantified by RT-qPCR. Exposure of HUVECs to APS serum was associated with reduced expression of HIF1A-AS1 and OIP5-AS1 compared with cells stimulated with control serum. The median HIF1A-AS1 expression levels were 0.08 a.u. (interquartile range, 0.06–0.10) in APS-stimulated cells versus 0.14 a.u. (0.08–0.16) in controls (p = 0.044). Likewise, OIP5-AS1 levels were 0.09 a.u. (0.01–0.16) in APS-stimulated cells versus 2.24 a.u. (0.70–3.55) in controls (p = 0.018). In contrast, GAS5 expression did not differ significantly between groups (340 a.u. (310–3940 versus 358 a.u. (163–445); p = 0.290). In this proof-of-concept study, serum from APS patients was associated with selective downregulation of HIF1A-AS1 and OIP5-AS1 in endothelial cells. These findings support a potential link between circulating APS-related factors and endothelial lncRNA expression; however, no mechanistic or functional conclusions can be drawn.