Scientific Reports · Oct 25, 2026
Association of MALAT1 and TUG1 transcript levels and cardiometabolic diseases according to cholesterol saturated fat index
By Rasaei N, Samadi M, Shiraseb F et al.
Cardiometabolic diseases in obese people, are influenced by the interactions of environment and genetics. Irregular expression of ”Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs)” is linked to several metabolic diseases. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the interaction between lncRNAs Metastasis-Associated Lung Adenocarcinoma Transcript 1 ( MALAT1 ), Taurine Upregulated Gene 1 ( TUG1) gene expression with dietary fatty acid quality indices (DFQI) on cardiometabolic risk factors among overweight and obese women. A total of 346 overweight and obese women (18–50 years), were included. Anthropometric measurements and biochemical determination were assessed. A validated and reliable 147-item semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) was used to evaluate food intake. The cholesterol-saturated fat index (CSI) was used as a measure of DFQI. A real-time polymerase chain reaction (real-time PCR) was performed to evaluate lnc-RNAs MALAT1 and TUG1 gene expression. The mean ± standard deviation (SD) of the age and body mass index (BMI ) of our participants were 36.568 ± 8.978 years and 31.215 ± 4.182 kg/m2 respectively. After controlling for confounding variables, significant positive interactions between lncRNAs MALAT1 and second tertile of CSI were observed on triglyceride (TG) (β = 6.268, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.760 to 11.776, p = 0.026), homeostasis model assessment insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) (β = 0.121, 95%CI = 0.013 to 0.230, p = 0.029). Similarly, a significant positive interaction between TUG1 expression and the second tertile of CSI was observed for HOMA-IR (β = 0.063, 95% CI: 0.017 to 0.108, p = 0.007). In addition, total cholesterol differed significantly across MALAT1 expression tertiles after adjustment (p = 0.046). No significant correlations were observed between MALAT1 or TUG1 expression and CSI. No adjustment for multiple testing was performed. In this exploratory, cross-sectional study, it appears that there might be a positive interaction between lncRNA MALAT 1 and CSI on cardiometabolic risk factors in overweight and obese women. However, due to methodological limitations, larger prospective studies are necessary to elucidate this concept.