en Genetics & Disease Genetics & Disease Original Article Original Article <div style="text-align: justify;">Animal cells possess thousands of long non-coding (lnc) RNAs, such as antisense noncoding RNA in the INK4 locus (<em>ANRIL</em>) , which have regulatory roles in the cells&rsquo; molecular mechanisms, including X-chromosome inactivation, and developmental processes.&nbsp; These lnc RNAs are known to influence the extensive spectrum of age-related disorders. Accordingly, there is evidence for the role of these lnc RNAs in cardiovascular diseases, particularly coronary artery diseases (CAD). The aim of this study was to assess whether the expression of the lnc RNA <em>ANRIL</em> was associated with a susceptibility to CAD by evaluating the expression level of the two transcripts of <em>ANRIL</em>. Peripheral blood was taken from fifty patients affected by CAD and relative expression of <em>ANRIL</em> was &nbsp;determined by Real-Time PCR assay. The obtained data indicated that the <em>EU741058</em> transcript expression level was significantly decreased in CAD patients in comparison with the healthy individuals (P= 0.001). Furthermore, there was no significant association between the <em>NR_003529</em> transcript expression, and CAD risk in Iranian patients (P= 0.751). Our results suggest that the expression level of the <em>EU741058</em> transcript of <em>ANRIL</em> may be implicated in CAD development, creating a predictive biomarker for CAD patients in future.</div> Coronary artery disease, atherosclerosis, long noncoding RNA, ANRIL, chromosome 9p21 1 7 http://ijmcmed.org/browse.php?a_code=A-10-1291-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Mohsen Yari mohsen.yari.m@gmail.com 100319475328460011368 100319475328460011368 No Department of Medical Genetics, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Sara Bitarafan 100319475328460011369 100319475328460011369 No Department of Medical Genetics, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Mohammad Ali Broumand 100319475328460011370 100319475328460011370 No Department of Molecular Pathology, Tehran Heart Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Zahra Fazeli 100319475328460011371 100319475328460011371 No Department of Medical Genetics, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Mahnoosh Rahimi 100319475328460011372 100319475328460011372 No Department of Medical Genetics, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Sayyed Mohammad Hossein Ghaderian 100319475328460011373 100319475328460011373 No Department of Medical Genetics, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Reza Mirfakhraie 100319475328460011374 100319475328460011374 No Department of Medical Genetics, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Mir Davood Omrani davood_omrani@sbmu.ac.ir 100319475328460011375 100319475328460011375 Yes Department of Medical Genetics, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.