A circRNA–miRNA–mRNA network identification for exploring underlying pathogenesis and therapy strategy of hepatocellular carcinoma

BACKGROUND: Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have received increasing attention in human tumor research. However, there are still a large number of unknown circRNAs that need to be deciphered. The aim of this study is to unearth novel circRNAs as well as their action mechanisms in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS: A combinative strategy of big data mining, reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and computational biology was employed to dig HCC-related circRNAs and to explore their potential action mechanisms. A connectivity map (CMap) analysis was conducted to identify potential therapeutic agents for HCC. RESULTS: Six differently expressed circRNAs were obtained from three Gene Expression Omnibus microarray datasets (GSE78520, GSE94508 and GSE97332) using the RobustRankAggreg method. Following the RT-qPCR corroboration, three circRNAs (hsa_circRNA_102166, hsa_circRNA_100291 and hsa_circRNA_104515) were selected for further analysis. miRNA response elements of the three circRNAs were predicted. Five circRNA–miRNA interactions including two circRNAs (hsa_circRNA_104515 and hsa_circRNA_100291) and five miRNAs (hsa-miR-1303, hsa-miR-142-5p, hsa-miR-877-5p, hsa-miR-583 and hsa-miR-1276) were identified. Then, 1424 target genes of the above five miRNAs and 3278 differently expressed genes (DEGs) on HCC were collected. By intersecting the miRNA target genes and the DEGs, we acquired 172 overlapped genes. A protein–protein interaction network based on the 172 genes was established, with seven hubgenes (JUN, MYCN, AR, ESR1, FOXO1, IGF1 and CD34) determined from the network. The Gene Oncology, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes and Reactome enrichment analyses revealed that the seven hubgenes were linked with some cancer-related biological functions and pathways. Additionally, three bioactive chemicals (decitabine, BW-B70C and gefitinib) based on the seven hubgenes were identified as therapeutic options for HCC by the CMap analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Our study provides a novel insight into the pathogenesis and therapy of HCC from the circRNA–miRNA–mRNA network view.