Analysis of differentially expressed genes between paroxysmal and persistent atrial fibrillation

Abstract Background This study aims to analyze the differentially expressed long noncoding RNAs and messenger RNAs (DELncRNAs and DEmRNAs) in patients with paroxysmal and persistent atrial fibrillation and explore the novel AF-related molecular mechanisms.Methods Two target datasets about paroxysmal and persistent atrial fibrillation patients (GSE75092 and GSE113013) were downloaded and further analyzed from the Gene Expression Omnibus database by R software. Upregulated and downregulated differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and the co-expressed differentially expressed genes (co-DEGs) of the two datasets were identified, of which enrichment analyses and protein-protein interaction network construction were performed. Results A total of 127 DELncRNAs and 321 DEmRNAs were screened in GSE75092; a total of 46 DELncRNAs and 64 DEmRNAs were screened in GSE113013. 8 co-DEGs were further identified in the overlap between the two datasets on Venn Diagram, which comprises 3 LncRNA and 5 mRNA. GO and KEGG analysis were successfully performed on the DEGs and co-DEGs mentioned above and the protein-protein interaction network of DEGs was constructed.Conclusions Multiple DEGs were found in patients with either paroxysmal or persistent atrial fibrillation and their functions were mainly enriched in metabolism and inflammation-related signaling pathways. The antiviral defense mechanism of PAF is an interesting difference we found.