Plasma Circular RNAs, Hsa_circRNA_025016, Predict Postoperative Atrial Fibrillation After Isolated Off‐Pump Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting

BACKGROUND: Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are pervasively expressed in highly divergent eukaryotes and are stable in body fluids. However, the link between circRNAs and onset of atrial fibrillation (AF) has not previously been investigated. We aimed to identify plasma circRNAs that are able predict AF after cardiac surgery. METHODS AND RESULTS: Plasma circRNA expression profiles were investigated in a total of 769 patients with or without AF after isolated off‐pump coronary artery bypass grafting. First, a circRNA microarray was used to screen 13 617 human circRNAs in plasma samples from patients in the discovery cohort (n=30). A quantitative polymerase chain reaction assay was then applied to evaluate the expression of 9 selected circRNAs in the training cohort (n=365). This approach revealed that hsa_circRNA_025016 was upregulated in patients with new‐onset AF with a high diagnostic accuracy as assessed by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (=0.802). Additionally, a satisfactory diagnostic performance of hsa_circRNA_025016 was found in the validation cohort (n=284). Furthermore, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes biological pathway analysis indicated that hsa_circ_025016 participated in melanogenesis, insulin secretion, and the thyroid hormone signaling pathway. A positive correlation between hsa_circ_025016 and fasting blood glucose was also identified in both cohorts. CONCLUSIONS: Hsa_circ_025016 is a potential biomarker for predicting new‐onset AF after isolated off‐pump coronary artery bypass grafting.