Circular RNAs Could Encode Unique Proteins and Affect Cancer Pathways

CircRNAs constitute a novel class of RNA, generally considered as non-coding RNAs; nonetheless, their coding potential has been under scrutiny. In this work, we systematically explored the predicted proteins of more than 160,000 circRNAs detected by exome capture RNA-sequencing and collected in the MiOncoCirc pan-cancer compendium, including normal and cancer samples from different types of tissues. For the functional evaluation, we compared their primary structure and domain composition with those derived from the same linear mRNAs. Among the 4362 circRNAs potentially encoding proteins with a unique primary structure and 1179 encoding proteins with a novel domain composition, 183 were differentially expressed in cancer. In particular, eight were associated with prognosis in acute myeloid leukemia. The functional classification of the dysregulated circRNA-encoded polypeptides showed an enrichment in the heme and cancer signaling, DNA-binding, and phosphorylation processes, and disclosed the roles of some circRNA-based effectors in cancer

Success runs in series of Bernoulli trials

This work is focused on selected probability characteristics of runs in a sequence of Bernoulli trials and on some randomness tests based on these runs. Based on Markov chains, an explicit formula is derived for the probability that the first success run of a lenght $k$ in a sequence of independent Bernoulli trials occurs in the $n$-th trial and other formulas for this probability are mentioned. Furthermore, approximations of the exact value of this probability (particularly the Feller approximation), bounds of these approximations, and their numeric relations are examined. Lastly, a test of randomness based on the lenght of the longest run in a sequence of $n$ Bernoulli trials and a test based on the total amount of runs are derived

Luciferase activity in transfected HeLa cells.

<p>HeLa cells transfected with pGL3-3'UTR-RARB and pcDNA3-miR-146a-5p (A) or pcDNA3-miR-146b-5p (B). Luciferase activity is showed as a percentage relative to the control (cells transfected with pcDNA3-miR-421). The results are normalized by Renilla luciferase and derive from three experiments, each performed in triplicates. The graph shows the mean, along with deviations from mean (SEM). Statistical analysis was performed using an unpaired t test (*** <i>P</i><0.001).</p

Induction of RARB is shown by a real-time PCR Taqman assay in the K1 cell line after inhibition of endogenous miR-146a-5p (C) or miR-146b-5p (D) by means of transfection with sponge plasmids.

<p>Data are expressed as mean values +/- SEM. Statistical analysis was performed using an unpaired t test (** p< 0.01).</p