Expression profiling and bioinformatics analysis of serum exosomal circular RNAs in lymph node metastasis of papillary thyroid carcinoma

Abstract

Most papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) patients have a good prognosis. However, lymph node metastasis (LNM), the most common manifestation of disease progression, is frequently associated with a poor prognosis. Nevertheless, few studies have focused on the underlying mechanisms of LNM. In the current study, we aimed to investigate the potential role of exosomal circRNAs that contribute to LNM in PTC. We identified 9000 differentially expressed exosomal circRNAs in PTC patients with LNM, including 684 upregulated and 2193 downregulated circRNAs. Functional enrichment analysis revealed that these differentially expressed circRNAs were primarily involved in a variety of molecular and signaling pathways correlated with PTC progression and LNM. Through bioinformatics analysis, we identified 14 circRNA-miRNA-mRNA networks related to LNM-associated signaling pathways in PTC. Moreover, both circTACC2-miR-7-EGFR and circBIRC6-miR-24-3p-BCL2L11 axes were verified for their potential involvement in PTC with LNM. Additionally, we identified four upregulated circRNA-related hub genes and eight hub genes correlated with downregulated circRNAs, some of which were validated as being potentially involved in LNM in PTC. Collectively, our findings provide a novel framework for an in-depth investigation of the function of dysregulated exosomal circRNAs and their potential as biomarkers in PTC patients with LNM.

Keywords

papillary thyroid carcinoma / exosome / circular RNA / regulatory network / lymph node metastasis

Fundings

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 81800698), the Jiangsu Provincial Medical Key Discipline Cultivation Unit (Grant No. JSDW202241), the Research Project of Jiangsu Commission of Health (Grant No. H2023053), and Zhenjiang Science and the Technology Planning Project (Grant Nos. SH2023006 and SH2023008).

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge and appreciate all the volunteers who were involved in the study and our colleagues for their valuable efforts and comments on this paper.

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