Genome-Wide Analysis of the Expression of Circular RNA Full-Length Transcripts and Construction of the circRNA-miRNA-mRNA Network in Cervical Cancer

Increasing evidence suggests that circular RNA (circRNA) plays an important role in tumorigenesis by regulating gene expression at the transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels. Alternative splicing events permit multiple transcript isoforms of circRNA to be produced; however, changes in the expression of circRNA full-length transcripts in cervical cancer remain unclear. Here, we systematically explored the dysregulation circRNA full-length transcripts and constructed an improved circRNA-miRNA-mRNA regulatory network to provide potential biomarkers and possible treatment targets in cervical cancer. We identified 9359 circular full-length transcripts from RNase R-treated RNA-seq data in cervical cancer, of which 353 circular full-length transcripts were significantly differentially expressed (DE) between the tumor and normal group. A total of 881 DE mRNA transcript isoforms were also identified from total RNA-seq data in cervical cancer, of which 421 (47.8%) transcript isoforms were up-regulated, and 460 (52.2%) transcript isoforms were down-regulated in tumor samples. Two circRNA-miRNA-mRNA competitively regulated networks, including 33 circRNA transcripts, 2 miRNAs, and 189 mRNA transcripts were constructed. Three genes (COPE, RAB3B, and TFPI) in the network were significantly associated with overall survival (P < 0.05), which indicated that these genes could act as prognostic biomarkers for patients with cervical cancer. Our study revealed genome-wide differential expression of full-length circRNA transcripts and constructed a more accurate circRNA-miRNA-mRNA network at the full-length transcript expression level in cervical cancer. CircRNA may thus be involved in the development of cervical cancer by regulating the expression of COPE, RAB3B, and TFPI. However, the specific regulatory mechanism in cervical cancer requires further study.