Analysis of Circular RNAs in the Coronary Arteries of Patients with Kawasaki Disease

OBJECTIVES: Kawasaki disease is a disease in children that presents with diverse symptoms including acute fever, conjunctivitis, body rash, swollen lymph nodes of the neck, and peeling of the skin on the hands and feet. Although patients with Kawasaki disease are continually observed and diagnosed, there are no established molecular markers to diagnose this disease quickly and accurately. Moreover, there have been very few studies on the molecular mechanism underlying Kawasaki disease. METHODS: The expression profiles of circular RNAs (circRNAs) from coronary artery tissue of patients with Kawasaki disease were analyzed using public sequencing datasets. After selecting reliable sequencing libraries and high-quality reads, bioinformatics pipelines were applied to quantify the expression of back-splicing reads of host genes. RESULTS: Many circRNAs were identified to be differentially expressed between the controls and patients with Kawasaki disease. Among them, circRNAs originating from host genes including homeodomain interacting protein kinase 3 (circHIPK3), zinc finger protein 124 (circZNF124), WAS protein homolog associated with actin, Golgi membranes, and microtubules pseudogene 1 (circWHAMMP1), SLAIN motif family, member 2 (circSLAIN2), and ataxia telangiectasia mutated (circATM) were down-regulated significantly in untreated patients with Kawasaki disease. Importantly, the level of these circRNAs returned to normal in the coronary arteries of treated patients, suggesting these circRNAs are possible molecular markers for Kawasaki disease. For circWHAMMP1 and circZNF124, the microRNAs that may be regulated by these circRNAs were also identified. CONCLUSIONS: This study will contribute to future research seeking to determine the regulatory pathways involved in the pathogenesis of Kawasaki disease.