Identification of differentially expressed circRNAs in ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament

Ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament(OPLL) is a progressive abnormal calcification of the spinal ligament, which causes myelopathy and neurological symptoms. Both genetic and environmental factors play an important role in its occurrence and progress. In recent decades, many studies on OPLL have shown that it is a multifactorial disease. However, the role of circRNAs in the pathogenesis of OPLL is far from clear. In order to identify the transcriptional regulators of OPLL, we compared the expression of circRNAs in the posterior longitudinal ligament tissues from OPLL patients and healthy volunteers through microarray analysis. The analysis revealed a set of circRNAs specifically regulated in humans with heterotopic ossification of ligament tissue. These findings imply that circRNAs may play an important role in OPLL, which provides new ideas for the study of OPLL. The circRNA expression profiles of 3 OPLLs and 3 normal PLL tissues were analyzed by microarray analysis.