As the most common type of
cancer in female patients, the morbidity and mortality rates of
breast cancer (BC) are high, and its incidence is gradually increasing worldwide. However, the underlying molecular and genetic mechanisms involved in the etiopathogenesis of BC remain unclear.
Circular RNAs (
circRNAs) are a novel type of non-coding RNAs that have been verified to serve a crucial role in
tumorigenesis. However, the majority of functions and mechanisms of
circRNAs remain unknown. The present study identified 47 differentially expressed
circRNAs in a dataset from Gene Expression Omnibus. Using the
cancer-specific
circRNA database, the potential
microRNA (
miRNA) response elements,
RNA-binding proteins and open reading frames of the candidate
circRNAs were predicted. Combing the predictions of
miRNAs and target mRNAs, a
competing endogenous RNA network was constructed, which may serve as the theoretical basis for further research. Furthermore, the analyses conducted using Gene Ontology terms and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathways indicated that candidate
circRNAs may serve a role in transcriptional regulation. Moreover, 20 BC tissue specimens and their paired adjacent normal tissue specimens were used to evaluate the expression levels of the screened
circRNAs. Thus, the analyses of the raw microarray data conducted in the present study offer perspectives on the exploration of mechanisms associated with BC
tumorigenesis with regard to the
circRNA-
miRNA-
mRNA network.