Han Chao, Seebacher Nicole A, Hornicek Francis J, Kan Quancheng, Duan Zhenfeng
Department of Pharmacy, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, P.R. China.
Sarcoma Biology Laboratory, Center for Sarcoma and Connective Tissue Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Oncotarget. 2017 Aug 4;8(38):64622-64637. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.19930. eCollection 2017 Sep 8.
Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a newly validated class of endogenous non-coding RNA, generated from the ligation of exons, introns, or both, which arise via a diverse number of cellular mechanisms. Due to rapid advances in the development of combined high-throughput sequencing and bioinformatics analyzing tools, many circRNAs have recently been discovered, revealing an expansive number of ubiquitously expressed mammalian circRNAs. Interestingly, it has recently been confirmed that circRNAs bind to microRNAs (miRs), as miR "sponges", acting to suppress miR function. As miRs are known to alter the development and progression of cancer, circRNAs may offer a novel diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for cancer. Indeed, recent evidence has shown that circRNAs are associated with many human cancers. Herein, we review the molecular characteristics and biogenesis of circRNAs, with a focus on newly identified circRNAs that may play an important role in human cancer, through their regulation of miR expression.
环状RNA（circRNAs）是一类新确认的内源性非编码RNA，由外显子、内含子或两者连接产生，通过多种细胞机制形成。由于高通量测序和生物信息学分析工具的快速发展，最近发现了许多环状RNA，揭示了大量在哺乳动物中普遍表达的环状RNA。有趣的是，最近已证实环状RNA作为微小RNA（miRs）的“海绵”与微小RNA结合，从而抑制微小RNA的功能。由于已知微小RNA会改变癌症的发生发展进程，环状RNA可能为癌症提供一种新的诊断和预后生物标志物。事实上，最近的证据表明环状RNA与许多人类癌症相关。在此，我们综述环状RNA的分子特征和生物合成，重点关注通过调节微小RNA表达可能在人类癌症中发挥重要作用的新发现的环状RNA。
