CircRNA Expression Profile in Early-Stage Lung Adenocarcinoma Patients

Background/Aims: Lung adenocarcinoma, a form of non-small cell lung cancer with high lethality at an advanced stage, is becoming more common in women, non- or never-smokers, and even young adults. At present, there are still no effective early diagnosis methods for patients to be cured in a timely manner. Circular RNAs (circRNAs), which are stable and conserved non-coding RNA in mammalian cells, have been reported to be widely involved in the processes of cancer disease. However, it is still a puzzle as to which specific circRNAs are involved in the development of early-stage lung adenocarcinoma. Methods: Tumor samples and paired adjacent normal tissues from 4 patients with early-stage lung adenocarcinoma were selected to investigate the expression profile of circRNAs by using a high-throughput circRNA microarray. Bioinformatic analyses were conducted to screen those differentially expressed circRNAs. qRT-PCR and sequencing were performed to assure the microarray data. Results: A total of 357 circRNAs were dysregulated in the tumor samples, which suggests potential roles in lung cancer. qRT-PCR detection showed that five selected circRNAs were identical to the microarray data, and the potential circRNA-miRNA interactions were predicted. Conclusion: This work illustrates that clusters of circRNAs are aberrantly expressed in early-stage lung adenocarcinoma, which might offer potential targets for the early diagnosis of this disease and new genetic insights into lung cancer. (C) 2017 The Author(s) Published by S. Karger AG, Basel