Insights into the regulatory role of circRNA in angiogenesis and clinical implications

Angiogenesis is the physiological process of new blood vessel formation from existing capillary vessels or posterior capillary veins. Its dysfunction could result in a number of diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases and cancer, contributing to death and disability worldwide. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a class of novel identified RNA molecules with a special covalent loop structure without a 5' cap and 3' tail, which can lead to novel back-splicing or skipping events from precursor mRNAs. Accumulating evidence suggests that circRNA play critical roles in diseases; in particular, they are abundantly and abnormally expressed in angiogenesis-related diseases. In this review, we describe the role of circRNA under pathological conditions, discuss the association between circRNA and angiogenesis, classify the regulatory mechanisms and suggest that circRNA can be used as potential therapeutic targets for angiogenesis-related diseases under clinical evaluation.