Department of Chinese Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450000, China.
Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, 410000, China.
Cell Death Dis. 2019 Jun 26;10(7):503. doi: 10.1038/s41419-019-1744-5.
Circular RNAs (circRNAs), as a novel class of endogenously expressed non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), have a high stability and often present tissue-specific expression and evolutionary conservation. Emerging evidence has suggested that circRNAs play an essential role in complex human pathologies. Notably, circRNAs, important gene modulators in the immune system, are strongly associated with the occurrence and development of autoimmune diseases. Here, we focus on the roles of circRNAs in immune cells and immune regulation, highlighting their potential as biomarkers and biological functions in autoimmune diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), multiple sclerosis (MS), primary biliary cholangitis (PBC), and psoriasis, aiming at providing new insights into the diagnosis and therapy of these diseases.
环状 RNA（circRNAs）作为一类新型的内源性表达的非编码 RNA（ncRNAs），具有较高的稳定性，通常表现出组织特异性表达和进化保守性。新出现的证据表明，circRNAs 在复杂的人类病理中发挥着重要作用。值得注意的是，circRNAs 作为免疫系统中的重要基因调节剂，与自身免疫性疾病的发生和发展密切相关。在这里，我们重点关注 circRNAs 在免疫细胞和免疫调节中的作用，强调它们作为自身免疫性疾病（如系统性红斑狼疮（SLE）、类风湿关节炎（RA）、多发性硬化症（MS）、原发性胆汁性胆管炎（PBC）和银屑病）的生物标志物和生物学功能的潜力，旨在为这些疾病的诊断和治疗提供新的思路。
