Abstract
Purpose :
Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are emerging as a new class of RNA and have been reported to play an essential role in many diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes mellitus. However, the circRNA expression profiles and their roles in diabetic retinopathy (DR) remains unclear. The aim of this study was to identified altered circRNAs in the retinas of diabetic mice model by high-throughput sequencing.
Methods :
The retinas of streptozocin (STZ) induced diabetic mice 4 months after the onset of diabetes and controls underwent circRNA and mRNA sequencing. The quantitative real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) assays were performed to validate the circRNA expression patterns. Bioinformatic analyses were performed, including gene ontology (GO) enrichment analysis, KEGG analysis, and circRNA/miRNA/mRNA regulatory network prediction.
Results :
Compared with control group, 1610 circRNAs were significantly altered in diabetic retinas with 765 up-regulated and 845 down-regulated. The expression levels of 10 altered circRNAs including mmu_circ_0005923, mmu_circ_0001141, mmu_circ_0001996, mmu_circ_0001835, mmu_circ_0005311, mmu_circ_0000716, mmu_circ_0011333, mmu_circ_0011675, mmu_circ_0001952, and mmu_circ_0012050 were verified by qRT-PCR. GO enrichment and KEGG analyses demonstrated that positive regulation of melanin biosynthetic process, melanin metabolic process, HIF-1 signaling pathway, Calcium signaling pathway were related to circRNAs. In addition, endogenous RNA (ceRNA) regulatory networks of validated circRNAs were constructed.
Conclusions :
The circRNAs were aberrantly expressed in retinas of diabetic mice and the circRNA-miRNA-mRNA network play a role in pathogenesis of DR. CircRNA may also serve as a potential biomarker of DR.
This is a 2020 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.