Dysregulation of Circular RNAs in Myotonic Dystrophy Type 1.

Abstract

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) constitute a recently re-discovered class of non-coding RNAs functioning as sponges for miRNAs and proteins, affecting RNA splicing and regulating transcription. CircRNAs are generated by "back-splicing", which is the linking covalently of 3'- and 5'-ends of exons. Thus, circRNA levels might be deregulated in conditions associated with altered RNA-splicing. Significantly, growing evidence indicates their role in human diseases. Specifically, myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) is a multisystemic disorder caused by expanded CTG repeats in the DMPK gene which results in abnormal mRNA-splicing. In this investigation, circRNAs expressed in DM1 skeletal muscles were identified by analyzing RNA-sequencing data-sets followed by qPCR validation. In muscle biopsies, out of nine tested, four transcripts showed an increased circular fraction: CDYL, HIPK3, RTN4_03, and ZNF609. Their circular fraction values correlated with skeletal muscle strength and with splicing biomarkers of disease severity, and displayed higher values in more severely affected patients. Moreover, Receiver-Operating-Characteristics curves of these four circRNAs discriminated DM1 patients from controls. The identified circRNAs were also detectable in peripheral-blood-mononuclear-cells (PBMCs) and the plasma of DM1 patients, but they were not regulated significantly. Finally, increased circular fractions of RTN4_03 and ZNF609 were also observed in differentiated myogenic cell lines derived from DM1 patients. In conclusion, this pilot study identified circRNA dysregulation in DM1 patients.

• Authors: Christine Voellenkle, Alessandra Perfetti, Matteo Carrara, Paola Fuschi, Laura Valentina Renna, Marialucia Longo, Simona Baghai Sain, Rosanna Cardani, Rea Valaperta, Gabriella Silvestri, Ivano Legnini, Irene Bozzoni, Denis Furling, Carlo Gaetano, Germana Falcone, Giovanni Meola, Fabio Martelli
• Journal: International journal of molecular sciences (Int J Mol Sci) Vol. 20 Issue 8 (Apr 19 2019) ISSN: 1422-0067 [Electronic] Switzerland
• PMID: 31010208 (Publication Type: Journal Article)

Chemical References

• RNA, Circular
• RNA

Topics

• Adult
• Alternative Splicing (genetics)
• Case-Control Studies
• Cell Line
• Female
• Gene Expression Regulation
• Humans
• Male
• Muscle, Skeletal (metabolism, pathology)
• Myotonic Dystrophy (blood, genetics)
• Polymerase Chain Reaction
• RNA (blood, genetics)
• RNA, Circular
• Reproducibility of Results