Systematic screen of potential circular RNA biomarkers of Hirschsprung's disease

Hirschsprung's disease (HSCR) is a developmental disorder of the enteric nervous system in which enteric ganglia are missing along a portion of the intestine. Aberrant expression of several circular RNAs (circRNAs) has been identified in the disease, but the full range of dysregulated circRNAs and their potential roles in its pathogenesis remain unclear. We used microarray profiling to systematically screen for circRNAs that were differentially expressed in HSCR, and we comprehensively analyzed the potential circRNA-miRNA-mRNA regulatory network to identify molecular mechanisms involved in the disorder.

We identified circRNAs that were differentially expressed between diseased tissue and paired normal intestinal tissues from patients with HSCR. The most strongly upregulated circRNAs were then validated by quantitative reverse-transcription-PCR (RT-PCR). We also constructed a circRNA-miRNA-mRNA interaction network to determine functional interactions between miRNAs and mRNAs.

We identified 17 circRNAs that were upregulated and 10 that were downregulated in HSCR tissue compared with normal tissues. The five circRNAs that showed the greatest upregulation were verified by RT-PCR: hsa_circRNA_092493, hsa_circRNA_101965, hsa_circRNA_103118, hsa_circRNA_103279, and hsa_circRNA_104214. These five circRNAs were successfully adopted to diagnose HSCR based on receiver operating characteristic curves, and they were used to generate a circRNA-miRNA-mRNA network. The network revealed a potential function of the circRNAs as molecular sponges targeting miRNAs and mRNAs in HSCR.

This first-ever systematic dissection of the circRNA profile in HSCR may provide useful insights into improving diagnosis and therapy.