Zhu Si-Yu, Wang Xiao-Yi, Xie Hui, Liu Li-Zhi
Department of Radiology, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Diagnosis and Therapy, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, 651 Dongfeng Road East, 510060, Guangzhou, Guangdong, People's Republic of China.
Department of Radiology, Hainan General Hospital (Hainan Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University), Haikou, China.
Genes Genomics. 2023 Oct;45(10):1339-1346. doi: 10.1007/s13258-023-01438-x. Epub 2023 Aug 31.
Nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) is a type of epithelial malignancy that is positive for Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and affects several populations worldwide. Due to the high rates of relapse and metastasis following primary treatment, there is an urgent need to identify new candidates for NPC therapy. Recently, circular RNA (circRNA) has emerged as a promising target for cancer diagnosis and prevention.
This study aimed to study the circRNAs enriched in NPC patients, and further analyze potential signaling pathways involved.
A new bioinformatic tool named psirc was used to analyze RNA-sequencing datasets from NPC patients and normal specimens to study the NPC-enriched circRNAs.
We identified and quantified the full-length circRNA in these samples and found the top 10 enriched circRNAs in NPC patients compared to control samples. Furthermore, we selected the most enriched circRNA, circEEF1A1_E8B1, and studied its protein coding ability, microRNA and RNA-binding protein (RBP) binding capacity. We also constructed a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network for its binding proteins and extracted hub genes. Finally, we conducted survival analysis for these hub genes in head and neck cancer patients.
In summary, our study has revealed the presence of previously unidentified circRNAs that are enriched in NPC patients. Through an analysis of their molecular functions, we have advanced our understanding of the potential role of circRNAs in NPC development.
鼻咽癌（NPC）是一种上皮性恶性肿瘤，对爱泼斯坦-巴尔病毒（EBV）呈阳性，影响全球多个群体。由于初次治疗后复发和转移率高，迫切需要确定鼻咽癌治疗的新候选物。最近，环状RNA（circRNA）已成为癌症诊断和预防的一个有前景的靶点。
本研究旨在研究鼻咽癌患者中富集的circRNA，并进一步分析其潜在的信号通路。
使用一种名为psirc的新生物信息学工具分析鼻咽癌患者和正常标本的RNA测序数据集，以研究鼻咽癌富集的circRNA。
我们鉴定并定量了这些样本中的全长circRNA，发现与对照样本相比，鼻咽癌患者中前10个富集的circRNA。此外，我们选择了最富集的circRNA，即circEEF1A1_E8B1，并研究了其蛋白质编码能力、微小RNA和RNA结合蛋白（RBP）结合能力。我们还为其结合蛋白构建了蛋白质-蛋白质相互作用（PPI）网络，并提取了枢纽基因。最后，我们对头颈部癌患者的这些枢纽基因进行了生存分析。
总之，我们的研究揭示了鼻咽癌患者中存在以前未鉴定的circRNA。通过对其分子功能的分析，我们加深了对circRNA在鼻咽癌发展中潜在作用的理解。
