BACKGROUND/AIMS: Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a special novel type of a stable, diverse and conserved noncoding RNA in mammalian cells. Particularly in cancer, circRNAs have been reported to be widely involved in the physiological/pathological process of life. However, it is unclear whether circRNAs are specifically involved in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC).

METHODS

We investigated the expression profile of circRNAs in six PDAC cancer samples and paired adjacent normal tissues using microarray. A high-throughput circRNA microarray was used to identify dysregulated circular RNAs in six PDAC patients. Bioinformatic analyses were applied to study these differentially expressed circRNAs. Furthermore, quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was performed to confirm these results.

RESULTS

We revealed and confirmed that a number of circRNAs were dysregulated, which suggests a potential role in pancreatic cancer.

CONCLUSIONS

this study demonstrates that clusters of circRNAs are aberrantly expressed in PDAC compared with normal samples and provides new potential targets for the future treatment of PDAC and novel insights into PDAC biology.