CircRNA expression profiles and functional analysis in a mouse model of chronic intermittent hypoxia-induced renal injury: new insight into pathogenesis

PeerJ. 2023 Feb 28:11:e14957. doi: 10.7717/peerj.14957. eCollection 2023.

Abstract

Increasing evidence has demonstrated that circular RNAs (circRNAs) play crucial roles in the pathogenesis of multiple diseases. However, the functions of circRNAs in renal injury induced by obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) are poorly understood. The aim of this current study is to identify the global changes of circRNAs expression in OSA-induced renal damage. The mouse model of OSA treated by chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH) was established. We assessed the expression profiles of circRNAs in CIH caused renal injury by microarray analysis. Bioinformatic analyses were further performed by us to assess those differentially expressed circRNAs. Quantitative realtime PCR (qRT-PCR) were then conducted to assure the data of microarray. Finally, a circRNA-miRNA -mRNA competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) regulatory network was constructed. We found 11 upregulated and 13 downregulated circRNAs in CIH-induced renal injury. The qRT-PCR validated that the six selected circRNAs were identical to the results of microarray. Both Gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis were further employed to annotate the potential functions of dysregulated circRNAs. Finally, we established a ceRNA network to predict the target genes of circRNAs. In general, our results first illustrate that circRNAs are aberrantly expressed in OSA-induced renal injury, which might aid in offering novel genetic insights into this disease and potential therapeutic targets for OSA-associated chronic kidney disease.

Keywords: Chronic intermittent hypoxia; Microarray; Obstructive sleep apnea; Renal injury; circRNAs.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Hypoxia
  • Kidney
  • Mice
  • MicroRNAs*
  • RNA, Circular
  • Sleep Apnea, Obstructive*

Substances

  • RNA, Circular
  • MicroRNAs

Grants and funding

This project was supported by the Joint Funds for the innovation of science and Technology Fujian province (Grant number: 2021Y9027), the Science and Technology Bureau of Quanzhou (Grant number: 2022C038R), the Young and middle-aged backbone talents training project of Fujian Provincial Health Commission (Grant number: 2021GGA040), the Doctoral Miaopu project of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University (Grant number: BS202115), and the Quanzhou high level talent fund project (Grant number: 2021C051R). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.