Microarray and bioinformatics analysis of circular RNAs expression profile in traumatic lung injury

Abstract

Acute lung injury (ALI) and respiratory distress syndrome are common, potentially lethal injuries that predominantly occur following chest trauma. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are stable conserved non-coding RNAs that are widely expressed in different organs. To the best of our knowledge, no previous studies have shown whether circRNAs are involved in traumatic lung injury (TLI). The aim of the present study was to identify highly expressed circRNAs in plasma samples from patients with TLI and explore their potential functions in the pathogenesis of TLI. A high-throughput circRNA microarray was used to investigate the expression profile of circRNAs in plasma samples from five patients with TLI and paired control samples. Subsequently, a total of five abnormally expressed circRNAs were investigated using reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). A bioinformatics analysis was performed to predict a competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network. In addition, gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyses were used to identify the main biological processes and pathways. Finally, additional samples were tested to identify the expression profiles of the selected circRNAs. Among the 310 circRNAs that were highly expressed in the microarray analysis, 60 were upregulated and 250 were downregulated in patients with TLI. RT-qPCR results indicated that two downregulated circRNAs (circ_102927 and circ_100562) and one upregulated circRNA (circ_101523) matched the microarray results. The bioinformatics analysis constructed a targeting network based on the three validated circRNAs. GO and KEGG analyses identified the top ten enriched annotations. The expression of homo sapiens circular RNA 102927 (hsa_circRNA_102927) in the plasma of patients with TLI was 0.34-fold compared with the control group in expanded size validation. The results of the present study identified the differentially expressed circRNAs in the plasma of patients with TLI and provided evidence that highly expressed circRNAs involved in the ceRNA network may serve a role in the pathophysiology of TLI.

CircN4bp1 Facilitates Sepsis-Induced Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome through Mediating Macrophage Polarization via the miR-138-5p/EZH2 Axis

“…Mounting studies have shown the evidence that cir-cRNAs can function as miRNA sponge via ceRNA crosstalk in various biologic processes, such as cancer, inflammationrelated, or autoimmune diseases [5,6]. We and other studies have previously documented the differential expressed cir-cRNAs in ARDS mice and constructed circRNA-miRNA interaction networks through using bioinformatic tools [11,23]. However, it is not clear whether those circRNAs can function as ceRNA for the dysregulated miRNAs in ARDS.…”

Microarray and Bioinformatics Analysis of Circular RNA Differential Expression in Newborns With Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome

“…Although the constituent ratio and mortality rate of NARDS in hospitalized newborns at the same time are low, the mortality rate of NARDS is more than 10%, so further study about NARDS is urgently needed (18). Now, existing studies have pointed out that circRNA plays a certain role in adult acute lung injury (ALI), traumatic lung injury (TLI), and lipopolysaccharide-induced acute lung injury rat model (19)(20)(21). At the same time, it has been suggested that miRNAs are involved in the pathogenesis of NARDS and play different roles in its pathological process (22).…”

CircN4bp1 Facilitates Sepsis-Induced Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Through Mediating Macrophage Polarization via the miR-138-5p/EZH2 Axis

“…Mounting studies have shown the evidence that circRNAs can function as miRNA sponge via ceRNA cross talk in various biologic processes, such as cancer, in ammation-related, or autoimmune diseases [7,8] . We and other studies have previously documented the differential expressed circRNAs in ARDS mice and constructed circRNA-miRNA interaction networks through using bioinformatics tools [13,25] . However, it is not clear whether those circRNAs can function as ceRNA for the dysregulated miRNAs in ARDS.…”