CircRNA expression profiles in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of patients with large-artery atherosclerotic stroke

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a recently discovered non-coding RNA isoform capable of regulating neurological disease incidence. The present study was designed to characterize the circRNA expression profiles present in large-artery atherosclerosis (LAA)-type acute ischemic stroke patients. Using a RNA-seq approach, we characterized circRNA expression profiles in 5 LAA-stroke patients and 4 controls. We identified 182 and 176 circRNAs that were up- and down-regulated, respectively, in LAA-stroke patients relative to controls. Enrichment analyses suggested these differentially expressed circRNAs to primarily be associated with chromatin modification, autophagy, platelet activation, and neural precursor cell proliferation. Human PBMCs circRNA profiles in 5 patients with large-artery atherosclerotic stroke and 4 matched controls