Screening differential circular RNA expression profiles reveals the regulatory role of circMARS in anti‐tuberculosis drug‐induced liver injury

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) treatment is plagued by liver damage, which often leads to treatment interruptions. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a special class of non-coding RNAs abundant in body fluids with important biological functions. However, the role of circRNA in anti-tuberculosis drug-induced liver injury (ADLI) is unclear. We explored ADLI-specific circRNAs in TB patients using circRNA microarrays and verified circMARS in a cohort of 300 individuals. In addition to the value assessment of circMARS in patients using a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, cell experiments were also performed under the guidance of bioinformatics analyses. In particular, we found that circMARS acts as a miRNA sponge by binding to miRNAs. Compared with the blank group, the expressions of circMARS, KMT2C gene, and EGFR protein in the ADLI group were increased, while miR-6808-5p, miR-6874-3p, and miR-3157-5p were decreased. Furthermore, when si-circMARS was used in the ADLI groups, circMARS demotion manifested the opposite results. Subsequently, a self-controlled cohort of 35 participants was used to verify the circMARS-miR-6808-5p/-6874-3p/-3157-5p-KMT2C-EGFR function axis. Therefore, circMARS may participate in the compensatory repair mechanism of ADLI through the function axis, and may be a potential biomarker for ADLI diagnosis in TB patients.