BloodCircR: A comprehensive database for human peripheral blood circular RNAs

Area of Science:

• Genomics
• Bioinformatics
• Molecular Biology

Background:

• Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are stable noncoding RNAs with significant biological functions.
• A comprehensive resource for blood-derived circRNAs is currently lacking.
• circRNAs show potential as biomarkers for various diseases.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop BloodCircR, a centralized database for human blood circRNAs.
• To integrate and analyze a large dataset of circRNAs from diverse disease conditions.
• To provide tools for exploring circRNA expression, function, and interactions.

Main Methods:

• Collected and analyzed 5,430 RNA-sequencing samples from human peripheral blood across 58 diseases.
• Utilized CIRI-full and public datasets for circRNA identification.
• Performed transcript-level annotation, expression analysis, and functional prediction of circRNA-miRNA and circRNA-RBP interactions.

Main Results:

• Identified approximately 2.3 million circRNAs, with over 1.7 million being full-length exonic circRNAs.
• BloodCircR integrates data from a large-scale study, offering extensive circRNA coverage.
• The database provides valuable functional insights into circRNA roles in disease.

Conclusions:

• BloodCircR is a valuable resource for advancing circRNA research in human blood.
• The database facilitates biomarker discovery and understanding of circRNA functions in disease.
• This resource has potential implications for therapeutic strategies involving circRNAs.