Expression and clinical significance of circular RNA hsa_circ_0003416 in pediatric pulmonary arterial hypertension associated with congenital heart disease

BACKGROUND: Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been found to be involved in the development of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). However, their diagnostic value in pediatric PAH remains unclear. This study aimed to examine the characteristic expression of the circRNA hsa_circ_0003416 in the plasma of children with PAH caused by congenital heart disease (CHD); the potential of hsa_circ_0003416 as a diagnostic biomarker was also investigated. METHODS: The plasma expression levels of hsa_circ_0003416 were determined via quantitative reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction in 50 CHD patients, 50 PAH patients, and 20 healthy subjects; the associations between hsa_circ_0003416 levels and clinical data were analyzed thereafter. Receiver operating characteristic curves were employed to determine the diagnostic capacity of this circRNA. RESULTS: Expression levels of hsa_circ_0003416 in plasma were lower in the PAH‐CHD group than in the CHD and healthy control groups (p = 0.009 vs. healthy control group, p = 0.026 vs. CHD group). Moreover, hsa_circ_0003416 was found to be negatively associated with B‐type natriuretic peptide (r = −0.342, p = 0.013). In addition, the area under the curve of hsa_circ_0003416 levels in plasma was 0.721 (95% confidence intervals = 0.585–0.857, p = 0.004), suggesting that it has a promising diagnostic value. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, hsa_circ_0003416 was found to be significantly downregulated in children with PAH‐CHD and to be potent as a biomarker for PAH‐CHD diagnosis.