circRNA-miRNA-mRNA Deregulated Network in Ischemic Heart Failure Patients

The aim of the study was to evaluate and construct a ceRNA regulatory network in patients with non end-stage ischemic heart failure (HF). Differential expression (DE) analyses of mRNA and circRNA were performed in left ventricles from HF patients and healthy controls, and a previously kept dataset of HF DE miRNAs were used for network construction. A total of 1031 circRNA-miRNA-mRNA interactions were identified, and proposed as HF ceRNA network. KEGG pathway enrichment analysis identified among the top enriched categories several relevant pathways such as Ubiquitin mediated proteolysis, Apelin signaling pathway, MAPK pathway, and MTOR signaling pathways. Interactions of circRNA by binding several miRNAs can regulate the function of multiple mRNA targets, thus providing novel vision of the pathogenesis of HF and laying the theoretical foundation for further studies of circRNAs in HF.