Differential expression and bioinformatic analysis of circRNA in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis cirrhosis

Aim This study investigates the expression profile of circRNA in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) cirrhosis and identifies the underlying pathogenesis of core genes of NASH cirrhosis. Methods The GEO 134146 dataset was obtained from GEO database. EdgeR software was used to analyze the differential expression of circRNA between NASH cirrhosis samples and normal samples, and Starbase and miRWalk databases were used to predict the targeted miRNA and mRNA. The protein-protein interaction network of these target genes was established by searching the string database of interacting genes, Cytoscape and Mcode analysis. In addition, David and Omicshare were used to analyze the functional enrichment and pathway enrichment of target genes. Results We evaluated 99 differentially expressed circRNAs, 27 of which were up-regulated, and 72 were down-regulated. A regulatory network consisting of 10 circRNAs, 30 miRNAs, and 1217 mRNAs was further constructed. The differential expression of circRNA is closely related to the functions of "target gene transcriptional regulation", "protein binding", "serine/threonine kinase", etc. The difference in circRNA is mainly related to the "MAPK" signaling pathway and the "FoxO" signaling pathway. Conclusions This study confirmed the abnormal regulation of circRNA in NASH cirrhosis. Bioinformatic analysis showed that abnormal expression of circRNA might be related to the occurrence and development of NASH cirrhosis.