Differentially expressed miRNAs in premature infants with retinopathy-a bioinformatics analysis.

Aim: To reveal the role of miRNAs in retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) by bioinformatics analysis.

Methods: The raw data of this study came from the researches of Wang and Zhao who analyzed the microRNA (miRNA) expression profile between ROP and controls. Based on the identified differentially expressed miRNAs, the related target genes, lncRNA and circRNA were predicted. Then we performed functional enrichment analysis to further analyze the functions of target genes.

Results: Hsa-miRNA-128-3p and hsa-miRNA-9-5p showed significantly different expression in both studies. LncRNA of POLDIP2, GAS5, NEFL and UHRF1, circRNA of ZNF280C_hsa_circ_001211 and SIAE_hsa_circ_002083, tar-get gene of QKI showed meaningful differential expression in ROP. Enrichment analysis showed that TGF-β signaling pathway, PI3K-Akt signaling pathway and MAPK signaling pathway might play important roles in the prog-ress of ROP.

Conclusion: This research may provide a comprehensive bioinformatics analysis of differentially expressed miRNAs which are possibly involved in ROP.