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CC BY 4.0 · Journal of Coloproctology 2025; 45(03): s00451811943
DOI: 10.1055/s-0045-1811943
Original Article

Circular RNA hsa_circ_0001666 and Its Target Protein ETV4 AS Potential Biomarkers for Crohn's Disease

Autoren

  • Walaa N. Roushdy 

    1   Department of Medical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt

  • Amel F. Ketat

    1   Department of Medical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt

  • Nadia A. Barghash

    1   Department of Medical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt

  • Abeer M. Ibrahim

    2   Department of Internal Medicine, Gastroenterolgy Unit, Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt

  • Fatma D. Alfarjani

    3   Department of Medical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Misurata University, Misurata, Libya

Funding The authors declare that they have not received funding from agencies in the public, private, or nonprofit sectors to conduct the present study.
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Abstract

Introduction

Circular RNAs are stable non-coding RNAs that regulate key biological processes. Hsa_circ_0001666 was shown to be involved in several cancers and in chronic inflammatory diseases. It is overexpressed in Crohn's Disease (CD) and is associated with cell migration, invasion, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), and fibrosis. Hsa_circ_0001666 acts as a sponge for multiple microRNAs (miRNAs). Some of these miRNAs regulate the expression of ETS variant transcription factor 4 (ETV4), a protein regulating critical genes implicated in inflammation, invasion, and EMT.

Objectives

To assess the plasma relative expression levels of hsa_circ_0001666 and the ETV4 protein levels to evaluate their contribution to CD development and the possibility of utilizing them as potential non-invasive biomarkers for diagnosis of CD and assessment of the disease activity.

Material and Methods

The present study included 25 patients with active CD, 25 patients with inactive CD, and 25 healthy subjects as controls. The analysis of the relative expression of hsa_circ_0001666 in plasma was performed using the real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) method. The ETV4 concentration in plasma was measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

Results

Plasma expression levels of hsa_circ_0001666 and ETV4 protein were significantly higher in active and inactive CD patients than the healthy controls, and in active CD patients than in patients with inactive disease. Furthermore, there was a significant positive correlation between hsa_circ_0001666 to ETV4 expression in the three studied groups.

Conclusion

Higher levels of hsa_circ_0001666 and ETV4 in CD patients suggest their role in disease development and activity, and their potential use as diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets for CD management.

Keywords

Hsa_circ_0001666 - ETV4 - Crohn's disease - epithelial-mesenchymal transition - fibrosis

Authors' Contribution

WNR: writing and editing; FDA: writing and editing; AFK: review and approval of the final version; NAB: review and approval of the final version; AMI: review and approval of the final version. All authors contributed equally to data collection, implementation of the experiment, analysis, and interpretation of results.




Publikationsverlauf

Eingereicht: 13. Mai 2025

Angenommen: 04. August 2025

Artikel online veröffentlicht:
25. September 2025

© 2025. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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Bibliographical Record
Walaa N. Roushdy, Amel F. Ketat, Nadia A. Barghash, Abeer M. Ibrahim, Fatma D. Alfarjani. Circular RNA hsa_circ_0001666 and Its Target Protein ETV4 AS Potential Biomarkers for Crohn's Disease. Journal of Coloproctology 2025; 45: s00451811943.
DOI: 10.1055/s-0045-1811943