Study of circular RNA expression profile in human papillary thyroid carcinoma

Abstract

Objective To study the pathogenesis of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), human circular RNAs (circRNAs) microarray was used to analyze circRNAs profile in PTC tumor and mated adjacent tissues. Their clinical significance in PTC were also indicated from the chip assay. Methods Three cases of surgical excision of PTC and corresponding para cancerous tissue were collected for human circRNA microarray. The differential expression of circRNAs between the two groups were clarified by comparison and analysis of the circRNA expression profile. Among these circRNAs, 10 circRNAs that were most significantly upregulated or downregulated were selected for quantitative reverse transcription PCR (RT-qPCR)identification in plasma from 50 pairs of PTC patients and controls. The circRNA/microRNA interaction was also predicted with Arraystar’s home-made miRNA target prediction software. Results Compared with adjacent tissues, the expression profile of circRNA in PTC were significantly different. Among these, 10 circRNAs were most significantly upregulated or downregulated, which were dysregulated by more than 2.5 times (3 upregulated and 7 downregulated). RT-qPCR verified 3 positive dysregulated circRNAs subsequently, which hsa_circRNA_074595 was upregulated by 3.91±0.13 times (P=0.045), while hsa_circRNA_100778 and hsa_circRNA_104348 were downregulated by 3.61±0.05 times (P=0.007) and 4.47±0.17 times (P=0.003), respectively. The circRNA/microRNA prediction indicated that miR-3944, -4435, -3467, -146, -92, -519 and -301 may be potential targets of hsa_circRNA_074595, _100778 and_104348. Conclusions circRNA microarray screening can be used to detect the differential circRNA expression of PTC and these dysregulated circRNAs and their potential target genes may play an important role in the development of PTC. Key words: Papillary thyroid carcinoma; Circular RNA; Microarray; Noncoding RNA