The diverse roles of circular RNAs in pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer is one of the malignant tumors with poor prognosis. The molecular mechanisms of pancreatic oncogenesis and malignant progression are not fully elucidated. Several key signaling pathways, such as Notch, Wnt and hedgehog pathways, are important to drive pancreatic carcinogenesis. Recently, noncoding RNAs, espe-cially circular RNAs (circRNAs), have been characterized to participate into pancreatic cancer development. Therefore, in this review article, we describe the association between circRNAs and pancreatic cancer prognosis. Moreover, we discuss how circRNAs are involved in regulation of cellular processes in pancreatic cancer, includ-ing proliferation, apoptosis, cell cycle, migration, invasion, EMT, metastasis, angiogenesis, drug resistance and im-mune escape. Furthermore, we mention that several compounds could regulate the expression of circRNAs, indicating that targeting circRNAs by compounds might be helpful for treating pancreatic cancer patients. (c) 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Pancreatic cancer is a type of malignant tumor with poor prognosis, and the molecular mechanisms behind its development are not fully understood. In addition to key signaling pathways, noncoding RNAs like circRNAs have been found to be involved in pancreatic cancer progression. Compounds that regulate circRNA expression could potentially be beneficial in treating pancreatic cancer.