The Regulatory Mechanism and Role of CircRNA in Tumors / 中国生物化学与分子生物学报

ABSTRACT

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a class of non-coding RNAs that form closed rings in structure. They contain a high content in eukaryotic transcripts, and are characterized by richness, stability, high conservatism and tissue specificity. In recent years, it has been gradually revealed that circRNA can bind to some miRNAs or proteins and participate in the regulatory mechanisms of biogenesis and molecular functions, including the regulation of miRNAs molecular sponge, protein translation, gene transcription and RNA splicing. With the application of high-throughput sequencing and bioinformatics, circRNA has gradually become a new research hotspot in the field of non-coding RNA due to its special properties. The latest research evidence shows that circRNA plays a key role in the occurrence and development of tumors, and is inextricably linked with cell proliferation, apoptosis, angiogenesis, and metastasis, indicating that targeting circRNA will be attractive treatment strategies and potential biomarkers. In this paper, the characteristics and mechanism of circRNA were briefly described, the mechanism of action and regulation of circRNAs in human tumors were summarized, and the strategies and development prospects of circRNA in tumor research were further discussed. In sum, circRNA plays an important role in early diagnosis, precise treatment and prognosis prediction of tumors.