Circular RNA expression in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

The regulatory roles of circular RNAs (circRNAs) in cancer are attracting increasing attention. The aim of the present study was to explore the roles of circRNAs in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) using microarray data. The circRNA and microRNA (miRNA) microarray data were downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus. A total of 256 differentially expressed circRNAs were obtained by analyzing the circRNA microarray data from 26 pairs of PDAC and adjacent normal tissues. Differentially expressed miRNAs were analyzed using a dataset of 6 PDAC tissues and 5 non-neoplastic pancreas samples (GSE43796); 20 differentially expressed miRNAs were detected. circRNA/miRNA interactions were predicted between differentially expressed circRNAs and miRNAs using miRanda and RNAhybrid algorithms and 51 circRNA/miRNA interactions were obtained. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis using gene symbols of differentially expressed circRNAs demonstrated that 41 circRNAs were enriched in 17 pathways. Subnetworks that were associated with apoptosis or proliferation were extracted from the 17 pathways and a new network was constructed using Cytoscape software, which identified that mitogen-activated protein kinase, PI3K/AKT and WNT/β-catenin signaling pathways may be associated with PDAC development. In conclusion, 256 differentially expressed circRNAs and 20 differentially expressed miRNAs were identified in PDAC tissues compared with normal tissues; the circRNA/miRNA interactions and the networks of KEGG pathways provided a global view of the function of these differentially expressed circRNAs and miRNAs.