A circular RNAs dataset landscape reveals potential signatures for the detection and prognosis of early-stage lung adenocarcinoma

Background This study aimed to identify potential circular ribonucleic acid (circRNA) signatures involved in the pathogenesis of early-stage lung adenocarcinoma (LAC). Methods The circRNA sequencing dataset of early-stage LAC was downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus database. First, the differentially expressed circRNAs (DEcircRNAs) between tumour and non-tumour tissues were screened. Then, the corresponding miRNAs and their target genes were predicted. In addition, prognosis-related genes were identified using survival analysis and further used to build a network of competitive endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs; DEcircRNA-miRNA-mRNA). Finally, the functional analysis and drug-gene interaction analysis of mRNAs in the ceRNA network was performed. Results A total of 35 DEcircRNAs (30 up-regulated and 5 down-regulated circRNAs) were identified. Moreover, 135 DEcircRNA-miRNA and 674 miRNA-mRNA pairs were predicted. The survival analysis of these target mRNAs revealed that 60 genes were significantly associated with survival outcomes in early-stage LAC. Of these, high levels of PSMA 5 and low levels of NAMPT, CPT 2 and TNFSF11 exhibited favourable prognoses. In addition, the DEcircRNA-miRNA-mRNA network was constructed, containing 5 miRNA-circRNA (hsa_circ_0092283/hsa-miR-762/hsa-miR-4685-5p; hsa_circ_0070610/hsa-let-7a-2-3p/hsa-miR-3622a-3p; hsa_circ_0062682/hsa-miR-4268) and 60 miRNA-mRNA pairs. Functional analysis of the genes in the ceRNA network showed that they were primarily enriched in the Wnt signalling pathway. Moreover, PSMA 5, NAMPT, CPT 2 and TNFSF11 had strong correlations with different drugs. Conclusion Three circRNAs (hsa_circ_0062682, hsa_circ_0092283 and hsa_circ_0070610) might be potential novel targets for the diagnosis of early-stage LAC.