Background: Hypoxia mediated pulmonary hypertension (HPH) is a lethal disease and lacks effective therapy. CircRNAs play significant roles in physiological process. Recently, circRNAs are found to be m6A-modified. The abundance of circRNAs was influenced by m6A. Furthermore, the significance of m6A circRNAs has not been elucidated in HPH yet. Here we aim to investigate the transcriptome-wide map of m6A circRNAs in HPH.
Results: Differentially expressed m6A abundance was detected in lungs of HPH rats. M6A abundance in circRNAs was significantly reduced in hypoxia in vitro. M6A circRNAs were mainly from protein-coding genes spanned single exons in control and HPH groups. Moreover, m6A influenced the circRNA-miRNA-mRNA co-expression network in hypoxia. M6A circXpo6 and m6A circTmtc3 were firstly identified to be downregulated in HPH.
Conclusion: Our study firstly identified the transcriptome-wide map of m6A circRNAs in HPH. M6A can influence circRNA-miRNA-mRNA network. Furthermore, we firstly identified two HPH-associated m6A circRNAs: circXpo6 and circTmtc3. However, the clinical significance of m6A circRNAs for HPH should be further validated.
Keywords: Hypoxia mediated pulmonary hypertension; m6A circRNAs; m6A circTmtc3; m6A circXpo6.