Fig. 4

circRNAs involved in vital processes in EMI. a circRNAs related to cell–cell crosstalk were further overlapped to identify circRNAs that act as “kernels” in EMI. Seventeen circRNAs had the potential to regulate all 4 processes including cell migration, cell–cell communication, signal transduction, and cell adhesion. b The 17 “kernel” circRNAs and their target miRNAs and genes were finally delineated into a regulatory network. Round nodes represent circRNAs, V nodes represent differentially expressed genes, and red represents upregulated genes. Blue triangles represent predicted miRNAs. Lines indicate a regulatory relationship