Changes in related circular RNAs following ERβ knockdown and the relationship to rBMSC osteogenesis

Recently, several studies have indicated that circular RNAs (circRNAs) play significant roles in various disease; however, little is known about the chronology of estrogen receptor beta (ERβ) deficiency and altered circRNA expression, or their relationship with osteogenesis. Herein, we show through western-blot and quantitative real-time PCR assays, that when ERβ is silenced, the expression of osteogenesis-related proteins and mRNAs were down-regulated. We then performed RNA-Seq to analyze differential circRNA expression between the control and ERβ knockdown group. This analysis revealed that, 146 circRNAs were differentially expressed by fold-change≥2.0, p ≤ 0.05, and, among this group, 68 circRNAs were down-regulated, while 78 were up-regulated. Gene ontology (GO), Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) and PANTHER pathway analyses were performed to predict the function of these differentially expressed circRNAs. Finally, co-expressed targets gene, and circRNA-microRNA network were constructed for predicted miRNA sponges. This research suggested that ERβ may through 2:27713879|27755789/2:240822115|240867796-miR-328-5p-mRNA axis to regulate osteogenic differentiation. •Estrogen receptor beta (ERβ) deficiency inhibits osteogenic differentiation in rBMSCs.•ERβ deficiency alter some circRNAs expression in rBMSCs.•Differentially expressed circRNA interact with more than three miRNAs.•ERβ may influence osteogenesis through the 2:27713879|27755789/2:240822115|240867796-miR-328-5p-mRNA axis.