Değirmençay Şükrü, Özdemir Selçuk, Küçükler Sefa, Bayat Reyhane, Kadak Muhammed
Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Atatürk University, Erzurum, Turkey.
Department of Genetic, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Atatürk University, Erzurum, Turkey.
Vet Med Sci. 2025 May;11(3):e70344. doi: 10.1002/vms3.70344.
The tissue- and developmental stage-specific expression of circular RNAs (circRNAs) makes them promising disease biomarkers. CircRNAs play a crucial role in regulating inflammatory responses; however, their function in canine parvovirus (CPV) infection remains largely unexplored.
We hypothesized that circRNAs serve as biomarkers for disease severity, inflammation and organ damage in dogs with CPV.
The study included six dogs with mild CPV, six with severe CPV and six healthy controls. Haematological and biochemical parameters were analysed from blood samples. CircRNA profiling in serum samples was conducted through high-throughput sequencing, followed by bioinformatic analysis to identify potential circRNA biomarkers. Associations between circRNAs and haematological/biochemical markers were examined.
The severe group exhibited significantly reduced leukocyte counts and elevated C-reactive protein (CRP) levels (p < 0.05). The mild group demonstrated higher levels of tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), cardiac troponin I (cTnI) and creatine kinase myocardial band (CK-MB) (p < 0.05). Thus, the severe group experienced heightened inflammation, whereas the mild group demonstrated increased cardiac damage. Dogs with CPV expressed certain circRNAs differently (upregulated and downregulated), as revealed by gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopaedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analyses. Eighteen cicRNAs were identified as potential biomarkers. Bioinformatic and correlation analysis revealed that cfa_circ_6789, cfa_circ_6793, cfa_circ_6785, cfa_circ_6798, cfa_circ_6791, cfa_circ_6794 and cfa_circ_3119 could serve as biomarkers of inflammation and disease severity. Conversely, cfa_circ_3114, cfa_circ_3118, cfa_circ_3117, cfa_circ_3113, cfa_circ_3119, cfa_circ_1571, cfa_circ_6786 and cfa_circ_6794 were linked to cardiac damage.
The identified circRNAs were actively involved in different stages of CPV infection and exhibited strong associations with disease onset and progression. They may play a key role in modulating infection pathogenesis while serving as potential biomarkers for inflammation and cardiac damage. This study is the first to investigate the role of circRNAs in CPV infection, providing novel insights into their diagnostic and prognostic potential.
环状RNA（circRNA）在组织和发育阶段的特异性表达使其有望成为疾病生物标志物。circRNA在调节炎症反应中起关键作用；然而，它们在犬细小病毒（CPV）感染中的功能仍 largely未被探索。
我们假设circRNA可作为CPV感染犬疾病严重程度、炎症和器官损伤的生物标志物。
本研究包括6只轻度CPV感染犬、6只重度CPV感染犬和6只健康对照犬。从血液样本中分析血液学和生化参数。通过高通量测序对血清样本进行circRNA谱分析，随后进行生物信息学分析以鉴定潜在的circRNA生物标志物。检查circRNA与血液学/生化标志物之间的关联。
重度组白细胞计数显著降低，C反应蛋白（CRP）水平升高（p < 0.05）。轻度组肿瘤坏死因子-α（TNF-α）、心肌肌钙蛋白I（cTnI）和肌酸激酶同工酶（CK-MB）水平较高（p < 0.05）。因此，重度组炎症加剧，而轻度组心脏损伤增加。基因本体（GO）和京都基因与基因组百科全书（KEGG）富集分析显示，CPV感染犬表达的某些circRNA存在差异（上调和下调）。18种circRNA被鉴定为潜在生物标志物。生物信息学和相关性分析表明，cfa_circ_6789、cfa_circ_6793、cfa_circ_6785、cfa_circ_6798、cfa_circ_6791、cfa_circ_6794和cfa_circ_3119可作为炎症和疾病严重程度的生物标志物。相反，cfa_circ_3114、cfa_circ_3118、cfa_circ_3117、cfa_circ_3113、cfa_circ_3119、cfa_circ_1571、cfa_circ_6786和cfa_circ_6794与心脏损伤有关。
鉴定出的circRNA积极参与CPV感染的不同阶段，并与疾病的发生和发展密切相关。它们可能在调节感染发病机制中起关键作用，同时作为炎症和心脏损伤的潜在生物标志物。本研究首次探讨了circRNA在CPV感染中的作用，为其诊断和预后潜力提供了新的见解。
