Analysis of the complex interaction of CDR1as-miRNA-protein and detection of its novel role in melanoma.

Despite improvements in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of melanoma having developed rapidly, the role of circular RNA CDR1 antisense RNA (CDR1as) in melanoma remains to be elucidated. The aim of the present study was to predict the novel roles of CDR1as in melanoma through novel bioinformatics analysis. In the present study, the circ2Traits database was used to supply information on CDR1as in cancer. CircNet, circBase and circInteractome databases were used to detect the co-expression of CDR1as, microRNAs and proteins. Furthermore, the functions and pathways of the associated proteins were predicted using the Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery. Gene Ontology enrichment analysis suggested that the proteins associated with CDR1as were mainly regulated in the cytoplasm as the molecular protein binding, the biological process of cell division and the endoplasmic reticulum tubular network, which are all involved in cancer-related processes. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genome pathway cell cycle was closely associated with the location of cancer. Co-expression network analysis revealed the associations among CDR1as, microRNAs and proteins. The bioinformatics analysis showed that CDR1as may act as the competing endogenous RNA for the vital genes, which are associated with the invasion and migration of melanoma.