a Department of Geriatrics , Shanghai Institute of Geriatrics, Huadong Hospital, Fudan University , Shanghai , China.
b Department of Integrated Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine , Huashan Hospital, Fudan University , Shanghai , China.
RNA Biol. 2017 Dec 2;14(12):1715-1721. doi: 10.1080/15476286.2017.1367886. Epub 2017 Sep 21.
Circular RNA (circRNA) generated by alternative splicing represents a special class of non-coding RNA molecule. CircRNAs are abundant in the eukaryotic cell cytoplasm and have a characteristic organization, timing of action and disease specificity. In contrast to linear RNA, circRNAs are resistant to RNA exonuclease. Consequently, circRNA escapes normal RNA turnover and this improves circRNA stability. CircRNAs can be degraded by microRNA (miRNA) and this results in linearization of the circRNA, which can then act as competitor to endogenous RNA. Through interactions with disease-related miRNA, circRNA can play an important regulatory role in specific diseases. Furthermore, circRNAs have significant potential to become new clinical diagnostic markers.
环状 RNA（circRNA）是由可变剪接产生的一种特殊的非编码 RNA 分子。circRNAs 在真核细胞质中含量丰富，具有特征性的结构、作用时间和疾病特异性。与线性 RNA 不同，circRNAs 对 RNA 外切酶具有抗性。因此，circRNA 逃脱了正常的 RNA 周转，从而提高了 circRNA 的稳定性。circRNA 可以被 microRNA（miRNA）降解，导致 circRNA 线性化，从而作为内源性 RNA 的竞争物发挥作用。通过与疾病相关的 miRNA 相互作用，circRNA 可以在特定疾病中发挥重要的调节作用。此外，circRNA 具有成为新的临床诊断标志物的巨大潜力。
