Figure 2.

Validation of the expression of selected Circular RNAs (circRNAs) by qRT‐PCR. The relative expression of specific circRNAs between the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients and healthy individuals (controls). Relative expression of the three up‐regulated (a) and the three down‐regulated (b) circRNAs were determined by qRT‐PCR. The differences in the expression of circRNA candidates between HCC group and healthy group were analyzed by t‐test with Welch's correction, except circ_0067735, of which the expression difference was calculated by Mann‐Whitney U‐test. The data are presented as the means ± SD of three independent experiments. (c) The circRNA_0000798 expression was analyzed by qRT‐PCR, followed by 2.5% agarose gel electrophoresis. Lane M is the DL0501 Marker (GENERAY, Shanghai, China); Lanes S1‐S3 are the qRT‐PCR products of three repeated samples. (d) Validation of the circRNA_0000798 splicing junction site through sequencing of its qRT‐PCR product. The 2^−ΔΔCt method was used to calculate the circRNAs expression level relative to the GAPDH housekeeping control. Three independent replicates of each experiment were performed