Circular RNAs Expression Profiles and Bioinformatics Analysis in Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia

Abstract Background: Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is a congenital chronic lung illness characterised by alveolar simplification and abnormal pulmonary microvasculature angiogenesis. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have recently attracted significant interest due to their function in developing many disorders, but their role in BPD remains largely untapped. The purpose of this work was to discover a profile of circRNA expression related to severe BPD and to anticipate its possible biological activities.Methods: PBMCs were extracted from peripheral blood, and the circRNAs expression profiles in the PBMCs of severe BPD group (n = 3) and control group (n = 3). We identified and grouped significantly differently expressed circRNAs between the two groups. Following that, we used bioinformatics to design a circRNA-miRNA-mRNA network. Gene ontology and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes were performed.Results: Among hundreds of circRNAs, 171 were upregulated, and 81 were downregulated (fold change > 1.5, P < 0.05). Using GO and KEGG analyses revealed that circRNA target genes were considerably enriched. These genes are involved in transcription regulation, protein phosphorylation, and cell adhesion. A crosstalk network was developed to investigate the interactions of several components, including four circRNAs, sixteen microRNAs and thirty-seven messenger RNAs. A pathway network identified several critical pathways involved in the pathogenesis and development of BPD. These include the Wnt signalling pathway, the Hippo signalling pathway, and signalling pathways regulating stem cell pluripotency.Conclusions: CircRNAs in the peripheral blood of severe BPD children were considerably changed in the early post-birth period, which may be critical in developing this disease.