Expression profiling of N-6-methyladenosine modified circRNAs in acute myeloid leukemia

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is the most common acute leukemia in adults, associated with poor prognosis and easy relapse of disease. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) were detected to be m6A modified and the role of m6A circRNAs has been reported in other diseases including cancers, however, their role has not been elucidated in AML yet. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the expression profiling of m(6)A circRNAs in AML. We performed m(6)A circRNAs microarray analysis to identify differentially expressed m(6)A circRNAs in bone marrow samples from AML patients and healthy individuals (control). Furthermore, bioinformatics analysis predicted the potential functions and relevant pathways that may be associated with the m6A circRNAs. The circRNA m(6)A methylation levels were found to be positively associated with the circRNAs expression, suggesting circRNA m6A modification could contribute to circRNA regulation in AML. Further analysis demonstrated that circRNA m6A modification might influ-ence the circRNA-miRNA-mRNA co-expression network that may contribute to the circRNA regulatory network in AML. Our findings provide evidence of the differential expression profile of m(6)A circRNAs in AML, and circRNA m(6)A modification may contribute to circRNA regulatory function in AML. (c) 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.