Expression profiling of N6-methyladenosine modified circRNAs in acute myeloid leukemia

Abstract

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is the most common acute leukemia in adults, associated with poor prognosis and easy relapse of disease. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) were detected to be m⁶A modified and the role of m⁶A circRNAs has been reported in other diseases including cancers, however, their role has not been elucidated in AML yet. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the expression profiling of m⁶A circRNAs in AML. We performed m⁶A circRNAs microarray analysis to identify differentially expressed m⁶A circRNAs in bone marrow samples from AML patients and healthy individuals (control). Furthermore, bioinformatics analysis predicted the potential functions and relevant pathways that may be associated with the m⁶A circRNAs. The circRNA m⁶A methylation levels were found to be positively associated with the circRNAs expression, suggesting circRNA m⁶A modification could contribute to circRNA regulation in AML. Further analysis demonstrated that circRNA m⁶A modification might influence the circRNA-miRNA-mRNA co-expression network that may contribute to the circRNA regulatory network in AML. Our findings provide evidence of the differential expression profile of m⁶A circRNAs in AML, and circRNA m⁶A modification may contribute to circRNA regulatory function in AML.

Keywords: Acute myeloid leukemia; circRNA; m(6)A modification; miRNA.