Pharmacogenomics and Personalized Medicine (Sep 2022)
Expression Profile and Bioinformatics Analysis of Circular RNAs in Patients with Vitiligo
Abstract
Rongxin Zhang,1,2 Zhao Hou,2 Kexin Liao,2 Chao Yu,2 Rongrong Jing,1,2 Caixia Tu1,2 1Institute of Integrative Medicine, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, 116044, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Dermatology, The Second Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, 116027, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Caixia Tu, Department of Dermatology, The Second Hospital of Dalian Medical University, No. 467 Zhongshan Road, Dalian, 116027, People’s Republic of China, Tel +8617709872288, Fax +86 411 84672130, Email [email protected]: Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are abundant, stable, and evolutionarily conserved noncoding RNAs with impacts on cell proliferation, differentiation, invasion, apoptosis, and immunity by acting as an miRNA sponge. This study aimed to investigate the expression of circRNAs in vitiligo and analyze the differentially expressed circRNAs (DEcircRNAs) bioinformatically.Patients and Methods: Biopsies of five lesional and five nonlesional skins of patients with vitiligo and five healthy skins (control) were harvested in this study. The expression profiles of circRNAs and DEcircRNAs were determined by microarray analysis and qRT-PCR. Bioinformatics analysis was used to predict target genes of DEcircRNAs binding to miRNAs and their underlying functions. Meanwhile, a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network was constructed using Cytoscape.Results: A total of 817 and 508 DEcircRNAs were identified in lesional and nonlesional skins of patients with vitiligo, respectively. The results of hsa_circRNA_000957 and hsa_circRNA_101798 validation were consistent with our microarray analysis. Furthermore, 32 miRNA response elements (MREs) and related target genes of DEcircRNAs were identified, whose main functions were involved in the pathogenesis of vitiligo. Hsa_circRNA_000957 and hsa_circRNA_101798 might be candidate biomarkers for vitiligo.Conclusion: This study provides scientific clues for understanding the mechanism of vitiligo.Keywords: vitiligo, circular RNAs, microRNAs, miRNA response element, ceRNA
