Identification of circRNA-miRNA-mRNA network and primary blast lung injury-related circRNAs in mouse

Background. Primary blast lung injury (PBLI) was the main cause of death for blast injury patients, however, there is no diagnosis and effective treatment for PBLI in clinical practice. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) is becoming new regulators of various diseases, and the performance of circRNAs in PBLI remain largely unknown. This study aimed to investigate the PBLI-related circRNA, to provide a new idea for the PBLI diagnosis and treatment. Methods. The differentially expressed (DE) circRNAs and mRNAs profile were screened by transcriptome high throughput sequencing. The differentially expressed circRNA linear transcripts and mRNAs were used to performed GO and KEGG pathway enrichment to investigate the potential function. The circRNA-miRNA-mRNA network was based on DE circRNA-miRNA pairs and PBLI-related mRNAs-miRNA pairs. Results. A total of 117 circRNAs and 681 mRNAs were aberrantly expressed in PBLI, including 64 up-regulated and 53 down-regulated circRNAs, and 315 up-regulated and 366 down-regulated mRNAs. GO and KEGG analysis revealed that the up-regulated circRNAs might involve MAPK signaling pathways, and down-regulated circRNAs might involve in the TGF-β signaling pathway. And the differentially expressed mRNAs might involve TNF signaling pathway and fanconi anemia pathway. A total of 89 PBLI-related circRNAs and 156 circRNAs-miRNA-mRNA interactions were predicted, these circRNAs might involve in the inflammation, oxidative stress or DNA damage repair in PBLI. Conclusion. This study reveals the circRNA-miRNA-mRNA network based on altered expression of circRNAs and mRNA in PBLI. Our results may provide information about the occurrence of PBLI and new ideas for diagnosing and treating PBLI. twelve mice were randomly divided into two groups: the control group and the PBLI group. After anesthesia, the chest of the mice in the PBLI group was exposed to blast waves with an overpressure of 0.5 bar. Animals in the control group were anesthetized in the same manner but were not exposed to blast overpressure. Six hours post-blast, the mice were sacrificed and their lung was harvested. Part of the lung tissue of each mouse were cut and place in liquid nitrogen for subsequent sequencing, and the rest were stored in -80℃ refrigerator. Every two tissues used for sequencing are mixed into one sample, that is, 3 samples each in the control group and the PBLI group for sequencing