Abstract 19454: mmu_circ_008396 a Novel Circular RNA Involved in Myocardial Infarction

Introduction: Recent studies highlighted that circular RNAs (circRNA) can play an important role in cardiac hypertrophy. However, the role of circRNAs post myocardial infarction (MI) has not yet been explored. Hypothesis: Here, we characterize the expression and function of circRNAs in vitro and in vivo Methods: Using global circRNA expression profiling, we identified several circRNA transcripts that were differentially regulated post-MI in mice, including mmu_circ_008396 that is significantly down regulated Results: Interestingly, we found a mmu_circ_008396 circRNA ortholog in humans, which was also significantly down regulated in ischemic cardiomyopathy patients. Corroborating our in vivo findings, in vitro hypoxic insult also significantly down regulated mmu_circ_008396 circRNA expression in cardiomyocytes (neonatal rat ventricular myocytes and h9c2 cells) and mouse endothelial cells. Further, overexpression of mmu_circ_008396 significantly enhanced tube formation and reduced apoptosis of human umbilic...