Novel circular RNA expression profiles reflect progression of patients with hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma

Abstract

Circular RNAs (circRNAs), a novel class of endogenous noncoding RNAs, have been shown to have important roles in a number of diseases, including several types of cancers. We hypothesized that circRNAs are involved in the pathogenesis of hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (HSCC). To test our hypothesis, we initially compared the expression profiles of circRNAs in 4 paired HSCC and adjacent normal tissue samples by using a circRNA microarray. The microarray data showed that 2392 circRNAs, including 1304 upregulated and 1088 downregulated circRNA transcripts, were significantly dysregulated in the HSCC tissues. The 10 most dysregulated circRNAs from the microarray analysis were further validated in another 32 pairs of specimens using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction assays. These circRNAs might sponge microRNAs (miRNAs) in predicted circRNA-miRNA-mRNA networks. Bioinformatics analysis was also performed to predict possible pathways in which these networks might be involved. Finally, we analyzed the interaction between validated circRNAs and their potential cancer-related miRNA targets. We are the first to comprehensively delineate the expression profiles of circRNAs in HSCC and to provide potential candidates for future mechanism studies. Our study is potentially of critical significance in uncovering the roles of circRNAs in HSCC.

WITHDRAWN: Identification of aberrantly expressed circRNAs in subgroup J avian leucosis virus induced tumor livers by RNA sequencing

“…In recent years, circRNA-miRNA-gene regulatory axes were confirmed that involved in pathogenic processes or cancer [46,47]. In order to show a more intuitionistic result, three up-regulated circRNAs (chr5: 51521674-51524828-, chr3: 3137166-3138170+, chr4: 59505289-59510641-) in tumor liver samples of ALV-J-susceptible chickens were selected and five target miRNAs and 10 miRNA target genes were showed in the circRNA-miRNA-gene network which provides a foundation for further pathogenic mechanism research.…”

Circular RNAs and their roles in head and neck cancers

“…KEGG analysis showed that the MAPK signaling pathway and endocytosis were enriched for all 3 upregulated circRNAs. Meanwhile, the 3 downregulated circRNAs were involved in proteoglycans in cancer, choline metabolism in cancer, Wnt signaling pathway and AMPK signaling pathway [180]. Although the downstream miRNAs were estimated by the authors, the authentic functional mechanisms of altered cir-cRNAs need to be studied further in the future.…”

“…HSCC is one of the most aggressive HNCs. Microarray analysis showed 2392 dysregulated circRNAs in HSCC tissues compared with ANTs [180]. Among them, hsa_-circ_0058106, hsa_circ_0058107 and hsa_circ_0024108 were demonstrated to show higher expression, while hsa_circ_0036722, hsa_circ_0002260, and hsa_circ_ 0001189 showed lower expression in tumors than in ANTs.…”

Effect of up‐regulation of circMATR3 on the proliferation, metastasis, progression and survival of hypopharyngeal carcinoma

“…These reports indicate that circRNAs may be emerging prognostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets in human cancers. In our previous study, we identified the different expression of circRNAs between HSCC tissues and adjacent normal tissues via microarray analysis. However, due to the limitation of microarray analysis, a large number of novel circRNAs beyond previous microarray analysis have yet to be identified.…”