Department of Pathology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22908, USA; Department of Orthopedics, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha 410011, China.
Department of Pathology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22908, USA.
Curr Opin Genet Dev. 2018 Feb;48:36-43. doi: 10.1016/j.gde.2017.10.002. Epub 2017 Nov 5.
Chimeric RNAs have been believed to be solely produced by gene fusions resulting from chromosomal rearrangement, thus unique features of cancer. Detected chimeric RNAs have also been viewed as surrogates for the presence of gene fusions. However, more and more research has demonstrated that chimeric RNAs in general are not a hallmark of cancer, but rather widely present in non-cancerous cells and tissues. At the same time, they may be produced by other mechanisms other than chromosomal rearrangement. The field of non-canonical chimeric RNAs is still in its infancy, with many challenges ahead, including the lack of a unified terminology. However, we believe that these non-canonical chimeric RNAs will have significant impacts in cancer detection and treatment.
嵌合 RNA 一直被认为是仅由染色体重排导致的基因融合产生的，因此是癌症的独特特征。已检测到的嵌合 RNA 也被视为基因融合存在的替代物。然而，越来越多的研究表明，嵌合 RNA 一般不是癌症的标志，而是广泛存在于非癌性细胞和组织中。同时，它们可能是由除染色体重排以外的其他机制产生的。非规范嵌合 RNA 领域仍处于起步阶段，未来还面临许多挑战，包括缺乏统一的术语。然而，我们相信这些非规范嵌合 RNA 将在癌症的检测和治疗中产生重大影响。
