Expression profile of circRNA in biliary atresia and choledochal cyst

To the Editor:Biliary atresia(BA)is a rare obliterative cholangiopathy that occurs during infancy in association with destructive liver inflammation and hepatic fibrosis.Although recent studies have shown that transforming growth factor-b(TGF-b)plays an important role in liver fibrosis and inflammation in BA,disease mechanisms remain poorly understood.Circular RNAs(circRNAs)are a recently discovered unique class of regulatory RNA molecules with high specificity.As previous evidence links circRNAs to the regulation of the TGF-b inflammatory signaling pathway,we further investigated the potential regulatory roles of circRNAs in BA and found novel insights into BA pathogenesis.