Dysregulated circRNAs in plasma from active tuberculosis patients

Role of circRNAs in active tuberculosis (TB) remains unknown. The present study was aimed to determine plasma circRNA expression profile in active TB patients to identify potential biomarker by circRNA microarrays. A total of 32 newly diagnosed active TB patients with a mean age of 36.1±13.4 yr (male/female=17/15) (BC group) were consecutively recruited from Weifang No.2 People’s Hospital. The diagnosis of active TB was based on compatible clinical symptoms, and at least one sputum smear or sputum culture positive. At the same time, 29 age-and-gender matched healthy controls with a mean age of 35.2±12.9 yr (male/female=15/14) (CC group) were enrolled from the staff of Affiliated Hospital of Weifang Medical University and Weifang No.2 People’s Hospital. For the study, all the active TB patients had no history of radiotherapy or chemotherapy before blood collection, and patients were excluded if they had a prior history of TB, a close contact with active TB patient, or other diseases like other infectious disease, cancer or diabetes. Three plasma samples randomly selected from each group (male/female=2/1; BC group including BC1, BC2 and BC10; CC group including CC6, CC7 and CC8) were applied for microarray analysis and all of the samples were used for further qRT-PCR validation.