Journal
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF IMMUNOPATHOLOGY AND PHARMACOLOGY
Volume 30, Issue 1, Pages 1-6Publisher
SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC
DOI: 10.1177/0394632016686985
Keywords
circular RNAs; gene transcription; microRNA sponge; non-coding RNA (ncRNA)
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Funding
- National Nature Science Foundation of China [81573747]
- Hong Kong Scholars Program [XJ2015033]
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Circular RNAs (circRNAs), a novel type of widespread and diverse endogenous non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), which are different from the linear RNAs, form a covalently closed continuous loop without 5' or 3' polarities. The majority of circRNAs are abundant, conserved and stable across different species, and exhibit tissue/developmental-stage-specific characteristics. They are generated primarily through a type of alternative RNA splicing called back-splicing, in which a downstream splice donor is joined to an upstream splice acceptor through splice skipping or direct splice. Recent studies have discovered circRNAs function as microRNA sponges, binding with RNA-associated proteins to form RNA-protein complexes and then regulating gene transcription and translation into polypeptides. Emerging evidence indicates that circRNAs play important roles in the regulation of the development and progression of multiple cancers by serving as potential diagnostic and predictive biomarkers involved in tumor growth and invasion and providing new strategies for cancer diagnosis and targeted therapy. In this review, we briefly delineate the diversity and characteristics of circRNAs and discuss the highlights of the biogenesis of circRNAs and their potential functions in tumor.
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