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.