AB0075 HSA_CIRC_0012732, HSA_CIRC_0008961, HSA_CIRC_0405239 AND HSA_CIRC_0068784 MIGHT BE INVOLVED IN THE PATHOGENESIS AND DEVELOPMENT OF ANKYLOSING SPONDYLITIS
Authors: Y. P. Tang, Y. F. Qing, Z. R. Dong, F. Dai, J. Zheng, Y. Jiang, Y. X. He, Q. B. Zhang
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2021)

Background: CircRNAs have been found to be involved in the occurrence and development of many rheumatic diseases[1-2]. Are circRNAs involved in the pathogenesis of ankylosing spondylitis (AS)? How do these circRNAs participate in the pathogenesis of AS? This all needs further study. Objectives: This study is to clarify the expression levels of hsa_circ_0012732, hsa_circ_0008961, hsa_circ_0405239 and hsa_circ_0068784 in the peripheral blood of AS patients, and to explore whether these circRNAs are involved in the pathogenesis of AS. Methods: To collected 60 cases of AS (30 cases of active AS (ASA): BASDA&gt; 6 or 6&gt; BASDAI&gt; 4, ESR&gt; 22mm / h or 6&gt; BASDAI&gt; 4, hsCRP&gt; 9mg / L; 30 cases of stable AS (ASS): BASDAI &lt;4) and 30 health control (HC) peripheral blood samples, related clinical and laboratory indicators. The relative expression levels of hsa_circ_0012732, hsa_circ_0008961, hsa_circ_0405239 and hsa_circ_0068784 in each group were detected by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). The relationships between the 4 circRNAs and clinical and laboratory indicators were explored by correlation analysis. Results: 1. The qPCR results suggested that the expression of hsa_circ_0012732 between the ASA and ASS groups was statistically significant (p&lt;0.05), and the expression of hsa_circ_0008961 was statistically significant between the ASA and HC groups (p&lt;0.05). Howeverthere was no statistical significance among other groups (p&gt;0.05)Figure 1. Similarly, the expression level of hsa_circ_0405239 was not statistically significant among the groups (p&gt;0.05), and the same was true for hsa_circ_0068784 (p&gt;0.05). 2. Correlation analysis results (Figure 2) showed that hsa_circ_0012732 is positively correlated with lymphocyte count (LY), mean corpusular volume (MCV), albumin (ALB), and negatively correlated with Bath ankylosing spondylitis disease activity index (BASDAI), Bath ankylosing spondylitis functional index (BASFI), high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), Globulin (GLOB) (p&lt;0.05); hsa_circ_0008961 is negatively correlated with platelet (PLT) (p&lt;0.05); hsa_circ_0405239 is negatively correlated with BASDAI and BASFI; hsa_circ_0068784 was negatively correlated with BASDAI (p&lt;0.05); and there was no statistically significant (p&gt;0.05) between these 4 circRNAs and other indicators. Conclusion: Hsa_circ_0012732, hsa_circ_0008961, hsa_circ_0405239 and hsa_circ_0068784 may be related to the pathogenesis of AS. Among them, hsa_circ_0012732 may be involved in AS inflammation and has the potential to participate in the judgment of disease activity. References: [1]LS, K., et al., The biogenesis, biology and characterization of circular RNAs. 2019. 20(11): p. 675-691. [2]J, W., et al., Non-coding RNAs in Rheumatoid Arthritis: From Bench to Bedside. 2019. 10: p. 3129. Disclosure of Interests: Yi-Ping Tang Grant/research support from: Science and Technology Project of Nanchong City (18SXHZ0522)., Yu-Feng Qing: None declared, Zeng-Rong Dong: None declared, Fei Dai: None declared, Jianxiong Zheng: None declared, Yi Jiang: None declared, Yi-Xi He: None declared, Quan-Bo Zhang Grant/research support from: National Natural Science Foundation of China(General Program) (81974250); Science and Technology Plan Project of Sichuan Province (2018JY0257)