Novel insights into circular RNAs in clinical application of carcinomas

Abstract

Dawei Rong,1,* Weiwei Tang,1,* Zhouxiao Li,1,2,* Jian Zhou,3 Junfeng Shi,4 Hanjin Wang,1 Hongyong Cao1 1Department of General Surgery, Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Plastic and Hand Surgery, University Hospital Munich, Munich, Germany; 3Department of Oncology Surgery, 4Department of Oncology, Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China *These authors contributed equally to this work Abstract: Circular RNAs (circRNAs), formed by nonsequential back-splicing of pre-messenger RNA (pre-mRNA) transcripts, have been widely concerned in recent years. With advances in high-throughput RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) technology, previous work has revealed that a large number of circRNAs, which are endogenous, abundant and stable in mammalian cells, may be involved in atherosclerotic vascular disease risk, neurological disorders, prion diseases and carcinomas. Remarkably, interaction between circRNAs and microRNA has already been observed to perform a significant role in a variety of cancers, including gastric cancer and colorectal cancer. Recent work has suggested that circRNAs may play critical roles in the initiation and development of cancers and could become potential new biomarkers for cancers. Herein, we review the current understanding of the roles of circRNAs in cancers and the potential implications of circRNAs in cancer-targeted therapy. Keywords: circular, targeted therapy, diagnosis, microRNA, noncoding RNA

Keywords

• Circular RNA
• Cancer
• Targeted therapy
• Diagnosis.