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. Overall design: Human PBMCs circRNA profiles in 5 patients with large-artery atherosclerotic stroke and 4 matched controls