Discovery and verification of mmu_Circ_26986/hsa_Circ_0072463 as a potential biomarker and intervention target for sepsis-associated acute kidney injury

Approximately 60% of septic patients developed acute kidney injury (AKI). The mortality rate of septic AKI (SA-AKI) is two to three times higher than that of septic without AKI (SA-non-AKI). The actual functions and mechanisms of CircRNAs in the pathophysiology of SA-AKI remain incompletely understood. Herein, we observed that the mmu_Circ_26986 could be induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and cecum ligation and puncture (CLP) in BUMPT cell line and C57BL/6 mouse kidney, respectively. Functionally, mmu_Circ_26986 suppressed BUMPT cell apoptosis induced by LPS. Mechanistically, mmu_Circ_26986 sponged miRNA-29b-1-5p to upregulate the expression of PAK7. Overexpression of mmu_Circ_26986 ameliorated the progression of CLP-stimulated AKI through miRNA-29b-1-5p/PAK7 axis. In addition, we found that hsa_Circ_0072463, homologous to mmu_Circ_26986, suppressed LPS-induced HK-2 cells apoptosis via regulation of miRNA-29b-1-5p/PAK7 axis. Furthermore, sepsis patients with AKI had a higher level of hsa_Circ_0072463 compared to those without AKI. The sensitivity, specificity and AUC of hsa_Circ_0072463 were 78.8%, 87.9% and 0.866, respectively. Spearman's test indicated a noticeable positive correlation between plasma hsa_Circ_0072463 and serum creatinine in sepsis patients (r = 0.725). In summary, this study reveals that the mmu_Circ_26986/hsa_Circ_0072463 miRNA-29b-1-5p/PAK7 axis mediates septic AKI, and hsa_Circ_0072463 is a potential diagnostic marker for septic AKI.