scholarly journals CircRNA-miRNA-mRNA Regulatory Network in Colorectal Cancer

Author(s):  
Liyuan Liu ◽  
Shan Wu ◽  
Dan Jiang ◽  
Yuliang Qu ◽  
Hongxia Wang ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Abnormal expression of Circular RNAs (circRNAs) occurs in the occurrence and progression of colorectal cancer (CRC) and plays an important role in the pathogenesis of tumors. We combined bioinformatics and laboratory-validated methods to search for key circRNAs and possible potential mechanisms. Methods: Colorectal cancer tissues and normal paracancerous tissues were detected by microarray analysis and qRT-PCR validation, and differentially expressed circRNAs were screened and identified. The circRNA-miRNA-mRNA regulatory network (cirReNET) was constructed, Gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyses were used to ascertain the functions of circRNAs in CRCs. In addition, a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network of hub genes which acquired by string and plugin app CytoHubba in cytoscape was established. Validation of expression of hub genes was identified by GEPIA database. Results: 564 differentially expressed circRNAs which include 207 up-regulated and 357 down-regulated circRNAs were detected. The top 3 up-regulated circRNAs (hsa_circRNA_100833, hsa_circRNA_103828, hsa_circRNA_103831) and the top 3 down-regulated circRNAs (hsa_circRNA_103752, hsa_circRNA_071106, hsa_circRNA_102293) in chip analysis were chosen to be verified in 33 pairs of CRCs by qRT-PCR. The cirReNET include of 6 circRNAs, 19 miRNAs and 210 mRNA. And the targeted mRNAs were associated with cellular metabolic process, cell cycle and glandular epithelial cell differentiation and so on. 12 and 10 target hub genes were shown separately in upregulated circRNA-downregulated miRNA-upregulated mRNA (UcDiUm-RNA) group and downregulated circRNA-upregulated miRNA-downregulated mRNA (DcUiDm-RNA) group. Finally, we may have predicted and discovered several critical circRNA-miRNA-mRNA regulatory axes (cirReAXEs) which may play important roles in colorectal cancer. Conclusion: We constructed a cirReNET including 6 candidate circRNAs, which were crucial in CRCs, may become potential diagnostic markers and predictive indicators of CRCs, and we may provide a research direction for the pathogenesis of colorectal cancer.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuxuan HUANG ◽  
Ge CUI

Abstract Aims: To utilize the bioinformatics to analyze the differentially expressed genes (DEGs), interaction proteins, perform gene enrichment analysis, protein-protein interaction network (PPI) and map the hub genes between colorectal cancer(CRC) and colorectal adenocarcinomas(CA).Methods: We analyzed a microarray dataset (GSE32323 and GSE4183) from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in tumor tissues and non-cancerous tissues were identified using the dplyr and Venn diagram packages of the R Studio software. Functional annotation of the DEGs was performed using the Gene Ontology (GO) website. Pathway enrichment (KEGG) used the WebGestalt to analyze the data and R Studio to generate the graph. We constructed a protein–protein interaction (PPI) network of DEGs using STRING and Cytoscape software was used for visualization. Survival analysis of the hub genes and was performed using the online platform GEPIA to determine the prognostic value of the expression of hub genes in cell lines from CRC patients. The expression of molecules with prognostic values was validated on the UALCAN database. The expression of hub genes was examined using the Human Protein Atlas. Results: Applying the GEO2R analysis and R studio, we identified a total of 471 upregulated and 278 downregulated DEGs. By using the online database WebGestalt, we identified the most relevant biological networks involving DEGs with statistically significant differences in expression were mainly associated with biological processes involved in the cell proliferation, cell cycle transition, cell homeostasis and indicated the role of each DEGs in cell cycle regulation pathways. We found 10 hub genes with prognostic values were overexpressed in the CRC and CA samples.Conclusion: we found out ten hub genes and three core genes closely associated with the pathogenesis and prognosis of CRC and CA, which is of great significance for colorectal tumor early detection and prognosis evaluation.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
jie Yang ◽  
Yan-Nan Tao ◽  
Fang-Xiao Hu ◽  
Yong-Zhi Chen ◽  
Xue-Song Yang ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Increasing evidences uncover that lncRNAs play an important role in Isolated systolic hypertension (ISH). However, a systematic lncRNA-mRNA regulatory network is still absent in isolated systolic hypertension and atherosclerotic cerebral infarction patients (ISH & ACI).Aim:This research aims to establish a lncRNA-mRNA co-expression network in patients with ISH & ACI, to probe into the potential functions of lncRNA in those patients.Design and Setting:Expression profiles of lncRNA and mRNAs are collected and compared respectively from 8 patients with ISH and 8 patients with ISH & ACI by RNA-seq data.Methods: Differentially expressed lncRNAs and mRNAs were screened out via high-throughput sequencing in the plasma of ISH/ACI patients and control ISH patients. Then, a lncRNA-mRNA interaction network was built using the Pearson correlation coefficient by Cytoscape software. The expression levels of the hub genes and lncRNAs were verified by qRT-PCR in another 10 ISH/ACI patients and 10 control patients. Results: 2768 differentially expressed lncRNAs and 747 differentially expressed mRNAs were identified. 2 hub genes (CD226 and PARVB) and 11 lncRNAs were identified in the lncRNA-mRNA interaction network. qRT-PCR and cell assay results verified that lncRNAs ENST00000590604 and CD226 are highly expressed in patients of ISH & ACI. CD226 was associated with vascular endothelial cells growth and stability through platelet activation and focal adhesion pathway.Conclusion: We established a novel mRNA-lncRNA interaction network. lncRNAs ENST00000590604 and CD226 might be the potential biomarkers of ISH & ACI.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ming Wu ◽  
Meijie Sang ◽  
Shuo Pan ◽  
Fei Liu ◽  
Meixiang Sang

Abstract Background Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have drawn lots of attention in tumorigenesis and progression. However, circRNAs as crucial regulators in multitudinous biological processes have not been systematically identified in breast cancer (BC). Our research aims to explore novel circRNAs in BC and their mechanisms of action. Methods The circRNA expression profile data, as well as RNA-sequencing data of BC, were downloaded from public database, respectively. The differentially expressed circRNAs, miRNA, and mRNA were determined via fold change filtering. The competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs) network were established on the foundation of the relationship between circular RNAs, miRNAs and mRNAs. GO and KEGG analysis of the overlapped genes were performed to predict the potential functions and mechanisms of circRNAs in BC. The CytoHubba was used to determine the hub genes from the PPI regulatory network. Morever, we further used Kaplan–Meier plotter to perform survival analysis of these hub genes. Real-time PCR was used to validate the expression of the circRNAs in BC tissues. Results A total of seven differential expressed circRNAs were screened. After the predicted target miRNA and DEmiRNA were intersected, four circRNA-miRNA interactions including three circRNAs and four miRNAs were determined. Furthermore, the Venn diagram was used to intersect the predicted target genes and the downregulated differentially expressed genes, and screened 149 overlapped genes. Moreover, we constructed a PPI network, and selecting six hub genes, including DGAT2, ACSL1, ADIPOQ, LPL, LEP, PCK1. Moreover, the survival analysis results revealed that low expression of ADIPOQ, LPL, LEP were obviously correlated with poor prognosis of BC patients. The real-time PCR results demonstrated that, the levels of circ_0028899, circ_0000375, and circ_0000376 were significantly down-regulated in breast cancer tissues. Conclusions Our study constructed and analyzed a circRNA-associated ceRNA regulatory network and discovered that circ_0028899, circ_0000375, and circ_0000376 may function as ceRNAs to serve key roles in BC.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dao-xiong Ye ◽  
Si-si Wang ◽  
Ying Huang ◽  
Pan Chi

Abstract Background Circular RNAs (circRNAs), a novel type of noncoding RNAs, play critical roles in the initiation and progression of cancer. Emerging studies also shows that circRNAs may function as potential markers for cancer diagnosis and treatment. However, the diagnostic value of circRNAs in colorectal cancer (CRC) remains need to be unearthed. Methods CircRNA microarray was performed to detect the differentially expressed circRNAs in eight plasma samples, including four colorectal cancer (CRC) and four normal samples. Besides, the results of microarray were validated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Moreover, ROC curve evaluation was performed to calculate the diagnostic value of significantly dysregulated circRNAs. In order to predict the potential mechanism of the significant circRNAs, circRNA–miRNA–mRNA network was constructed based on the TargetScan, miRTarBase and MIRDB database, as well as CircInteractome online software. Furthermore, Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analyses were performed to further predict the function of meaningful circRNAs. Results Totally three differentially expressed circRNAs were identified in CRC plasma compared to normal plasma by circRNA microarray analysis, and the results was validated by qRT-PCR. Hsa_circ_0082182, hsa_circ_0000370 and hsa_circ_0035445 were identified and ROC curves analysis was used to calculate the single and joint diagnostic value. Furthermore, GO and KEGG analyses revealed that functions were mainly cancer-related, which indicated that the circRNAs were meaningfully associated with CRC cell proliferation and metastasis. Conclusion In conclusion, we have identified three circRNAs that are dysregulated in CRC plasma, including hsa_circ_0082182, hsa_circ_0000370 and hsa_circ_0035445. ROC curves showed that these circRNAs might have diagnostic value for colorectal cancer. Furthermore, bioinformatics analysis indicated that the above-mentioned circRNAs might be involved in the development of CRC.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lianghai Wang ◽  
Lisha Zhou ◽  
Jun Hou ◽  
Jin Meng ◽  
Ke Lin ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The regulatory roles of circular RNAs (circRNAs) in tumorigenesis have attracted increasing attention. However, novel circRNAs with the potential to be used as serum/plasma biomarkers and their regulatory mechanism in the pathogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remain explored. Methods CircRNA expression profiles of tumor tissues and plasma samples from HCC patients were compiled and jointly analyzed. CircRNA–miRNA–mRNA interactions were predicted by bioinformatics tools. The expression of interacting miRNAs and mRNA was verified in independent datasets. Survival analysis and pathway enrichment analysis were conducted on hub genes. Results We identified three significantly up-regulated circRNAs (hsa_circ_0009910, hsa_circ_0049783, and hsa_circ_0089172) both in HCC tissues and plasma samples. Two of them were validated to be indeed circular and could be excreted from hepatoma cells. We further revealed four miRNAs (hsa-miR-455-5p, hsa-miR-615-3p, hsa-miR-18a-3p, hsa-miR-4524a-3p) that targeting circRNAs and expressed in human HCC samples, and 95 mRNAs targeted by miRNAs and significantly up-regulated in two HCC cohorts. A protein-protein interaction network revealed 19 hub genes, 12 of them (MCM6, CCNB1, CDC20, NDC80, ZWINT, ASPM, CENPU, MCM3, MCM5, ECT2, CDC7, and DLGAP5) were associated with reduced survival in two HCC cohorts. KEGG, Reactome, and Wikipathway enrichment analysis indicated that the hub genes mainly functioned in DNA replication and cell cycle. Conclusions Our study uncovers three novel deregulated circRNAs in tumor and plasma from HCC patients and provides an insight into the pathogenesis from the circRNA–miRNA–mRNA regulatory network.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ming Wu ◽  
Meijie Sang ◽  
Shuo Pan ◽  
Fei Liu ◽  
Meixiang Sang

Abstract Background: Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have drawn lots of attention in tumorigenesis and progression. However, circRNAs as crucial regulators in multitudinous biological processes have not been systematically identified in breast cancer (BC). Our research aims to explore novel circRNAs in BC and their mechanisms of action.Methods: The circRNA expression profile data, as well as RNA-sequencing data of BC, were downloaded from public database, respectively. The differentially expressed circRNAs, miRNA, and mRNA were determined via fold change filtering. The competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs) network were established on the foundation of the relationship between circular RNAs, miRNAs and mRNAs. GO and KEGG analysis of the overlapped genes were performed to predict the potential functions and mechanisms of circRNAs in BC. The CytoHubba was used to determine the hub genes from the PPI regulatory network. Morever, we further used Kaplan–Meier plotter to perform survival analysis of these hub genes. Real-time PCR was used to validate the expression of the circRNAs in BC tissues.Results: A total of seven differential expressed circRNAs were screened. After the predicted target miRNA and DEmiRNA were intersected, four circRNA-miRNA interactions including three circRNAs and four miRNAs were determined. Furthermore, the Venn diagram was used to intersect the predicted target genes and the downregulated differentially expressed genes, and screened 149 overlapped genes. Moreover, we constructed a PPI network, and selecting six hub genes, including DGAT2, ACSL1, ADIPOQ, LPL, LEP, PCK1. Moreover, the survival analysis results revealed that low expression of ADIPOQ, LPL, LEP were obviously correlated with poor prognosis of BC patients. The real-time PCR results demonstrated that, the levels of circ_0028899, circ_0000375, and circ_0000376 were significantly down-regulated in breast cancer tissues.Conclusions: Our study constructed and analyzed a circRNA-associated ceRNA regulatory network and discovered that circ_0028899, circ_0000375, and circ_0000376 may function as ceRNAs to serve key roles in BC.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jie Yang ◽  
Yan-Nan Tao ◽  
Fang-Xiao Hu ◽  
Yong-Zhi Chen ◽  
Xue-Song Yang ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Increasing evidences uncover that lncRNAs play an important role in Isolated systolic hypertension (ISH). However, a systematic lncRNA-mRNA regulatory network is still absent in isolated systolic hypertension and atherosclerotic cerebral infarction patients (ISH & ACI).Aim:This research aims to establish a lncRNA-mRNA co-expression network in patients with ISH & ACI, to probe into the potential functions of lncRNA in those patients.Design and Setting:Expression profiles of lncRNA and mRNAs are collected and compared respectively from 8 patients with ISH and 8 patients with ISH & ACI by RNA-seq data.Methods: Differentially expressed lncRNAs and mRNAs were screened out via high-throughput sequencing in the plasma of ISH/ACI patients and control ISH patients. Then, a lncRNA-mRNA interaction network was built using the Pearson correlation coefficient by Cytoscape software. The expression levels of the hub genes and lncRNAs were verified by qRT-PCR in another 10 ISH/ACI patients and 10 control patients. Results: 2768 differentially expressed lncRNAs and 747 differentially expressed mRNAs were identified. 2 hub genes (CD226 and PARVB) and 11 lncRNAs were identified in the lncRNA-mRNA interaction network. qRT-PCR and cell assay results verified that lncRNAs ENST00000590604 and CD226 are highly expressed in patients of ISH & ACI. CD226 was associated with vascular endothelial cells growth and stability through platelet activation and focal adhesion pathway.Conclusion: We established a novel mRNA-lncRNA interaction network. lncRNAs ENST00000590604 and CD226 might be the potential biomarkers of ISH & ACI.


PeerJ ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. e7135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fangcao Lei ◽  
Han Zhang ◽  
Xiaoli Xie

Background Pulpitis is a common inflammatory disease that affects dental pulp. It is important to understand the molecular signals of inflammation and repair associated with this process. Increasing evidence has revealed that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), via competitively sponging microRNAs (miRNAs), can act as competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs) to regulate inflammation and reparative responses. The aim of this study was to elucidate the potential roles of lncRNA, miRNA and messenger RNA (mRNA) ceRNA networks in pulpitis tissues compared to normal control tissues. Methods The oligo and limma packages were used to identify differentially expressed lncRNAs and mRNAs (DElncRNAs and DEmRNAs, respectively) based on expression profiles in two datasets, GSE92681 and GSE77459, from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were further analyzed by Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analyses. Protein–protein interaction (PPI) networks and modules were established to screen hub genes using the Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes/Proteins (STRING) and the Molecular Complex Detection (MCODE) plugin for Cytoscape, respectively. Furthermore, an lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA-hub genes regulatory network was constructed to investigate mechanisms related to the progression and prognosis of pulpitis. Then, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was applied to verify critical lncRNAs that may significantly affect the pathogenesis in inflamed and normal human dental pulp. Results A total of 644 upregulated and 264 downregulated differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in pulpitis samples were identified from the GSE77459 dataset, while 8 up- and 19 downregulated probes associated with lncRNA were identified from the GSE92681 dataset. Protein–protein interaction (PPI) based on STRING analysis revealed a network of DEGs containing 4,929 edges and 623 nodes. Upon combined analysis of the constructed PPI network and the MCODE results, 10 hub genes, including IL6, IL8, PTPRC, IL1B, TLR2, ITGAM, CCL2, PIK3CG, ICAM1, and PIK3CD, were detected in the network. Next, a ceRNA regulatory relationship consisting of one lncRNA (PVT1), one miRNA (hsa-miR-455-5p) and two mRNAs (SOCS3 and PLXNC1) was established. Then, we constructed the network in which the regulatory relationship between ceRNA and hub genes was summarized. Finally, our qRT-PCR results confirmed significantly higher levels of PVT1 transcript in inflamed pulp than in normal pulp tissues (p = 0.03). Conclusion Our study identified a novel lncRNA-mediated ceRNA regulatory mechanisms in the pathogenesis of pulpitis.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinhui Liu ◽  
Rui Sun ◽  
Sipei Nie ◽  
Jing Yang ◽  
Siyue Li ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Many studies have well supported the close relationship between miRNA and endometrial cancer (EC). This bioinformatic study, compared with other similar studies, confirmed a new miRNA-mRNA regulatory network to investigate the miRNA-mRNA regulatory network and the prognostic biomarkers in EC. Methods: We downloaded RNA-seq and miRNA-seq data of endometrial cancer from the TCGA database, and then we used EdegR package to screen differentially expressed miRNAs and mRNAs (DE-miRNAs and DE-mRNAs). The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified and their functions were predicted using the functional and pathway enrichment analysis. Protein–protein interaction (PPI) network was established using STRING database, and the hub genes were verified by Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA). Then, we constructed a regulatory network of EC-associated miRNAs and hub genes by Cytoscape, and determined the expression of unexplored miRNAs in EC tissues and normal adjacent tissues by quantitative Real-Time PCR (qRT-PCR). A prognostic signature model and a predictive nomogram were constructed. Finally, we explored the association between the prognostic model and the immune cell infiltration. Results: 11531 DE-mRNAs and 236 DE-miRNAs, as well as 275 and 118 candidate DEGs for upregulated and downregulated DE-miRNAs were screened out. These DEGs were significantly concentrated in FOXO signaling pathway, cell cycle and Focal adhesion. Among the 20 hub genes identified, 17 exhibited significantly different expression compared with normal tissues. The miRNA-mRNA network included 5 downregulated and 13 upregulated DE-miRNAs . qRT-PCR proved that the expression levels of miRNA-18a-5p, miRNA-18b-5p, miRNA-449c-5p and miRNA-1224-5p and their target genes, NR3C1, CTGF, MYC, and TNS1 were consistent with our predictions. Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression analyses of the hub genes revealed that NR3C1, EZH2, and GATA4 showed a significant prognostic value. We identified the three-gene signature as an independent prognostic indicator for EC ( p =0.022,HR=1.321, 95% CI: 1.041-1.675) and these genes were closely related to eight types of immune infiltration cells. Conclusion: Our study revealed the mechanisms of the carcinogenesis and progression of EC.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qing Yao ◽  
Yong-Lai He ◽  
Li-Juan Pang ◽  
Ning Wang ◽  
Shuang-Shuang Dong ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: The present researches indicate that circular RNAs (circRNAs) play pivotal roles in the generation and development of human cancers. However, function of circRNAs in lung adenocarcinoma is still unknown. Herein, we focused our study on the regulation mechanism of circRNAs in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAC)Methods: CircRNAs-related data can be downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus(GEO) microarray databases. Relevant expression data of miRNAs and mRNAs were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) databases. The differentially expressed circRNAs (DEcircRNAs) were obtained by the robust rank aggregation method, and constructed a ceRNA network with circRNA-miRNA pairs and miRNA-mRNA pairs. The function and pathway enrichment of different genes were analyzed, and the protein-protein interaction (PPI) was predicted by String software, and the subnetwork management module was constructed by MCODE plugin. The differentially expressed mRNAs (DEmRNAs) were used to establish survival analysis by R software.Results: A total of 19 up-regulated circRNAs, 45 down-regulated circRNAs, 98 up-regulated miRNAs, 18 down-regulated miRNAs, 2002 up-regulated mRNAs, and 553 down-regulated mRNAs were obtained in lung adenocarcinoma. The circRNA-miRNA-mRNA network was constructed by six circRNAs (hsa_circ_0003528, hsa_circ_0004315, hsa_circ_0005699, hsa_circ_0002588, hsa_circ_0005777, hsa_circ_0027033), 19 miRNAs and 33 mRNAs. GO and KEGG pathway analysis indicated that DEmRNAs might be related to the progression of LUAC. The PPI network was constructed and four hub genes (CEP55, CHEK1, CDC25A, KIF23) were obtained from the network, and four hub genes were found to be associated with the same miRNA and circRNA, including hsa_circ_0004315/hsa-miR-195/CEP55, CHEK1, CDC25A, KIF23. Three hub genes (CEP55, CHEK1, KIF23) were significantly associated with LUAC survival and prognosis, and the overall survival rate of lung adenocarcinoma was decreased in high-expression genes compared with low-expression genes.Conclusion: Our finding indicated that circRNA-miRNA- mRNA axis paly key role in the pathogenesis of lung adenocarcinoma, and some circRNAs could be considered as a biomarker and target for the diagnosis and therapy of LUAC patients.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document