Department of Laboratory Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong, 226001, Jiangsu, China; Research Center of Clinical Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong, 226001, Jiangsu, China; Medical School of Nantong University, Nantong University, Nantong, 226001, Jiangsu, China.
Department of Laboratory Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong, 226001, Jiangsu, China; Research Center of Clinical Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong, 226001, Jiangsu, China.
Cancer Lett. 2020 Jul 28;483:59-65. doi: 10.1016/j.canlet.2020.04.006. Epub 2020 Apr 28.
Long non-coding RNA (lncRNAs) are functional RNA segments longer than 200 nucleotides, which are considered a redundant transcriptional product. Recently, lncRNAs have been shown to harbor open reading frame (ORF) sequences and encode proteins/peptides. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have long been considered as another type of non-coding RNA (ncRNA) due to the absence of the 5' cap structure. However, recent studies have shown that they also have ORFs in their sequences. CircRNAs can be translated into proteins via internal ribosome entry site (IRES)-driven or N6-methyladenosine (m6A)-mediated initiation. To date, several translatable circRNAs and lncRNAs have been identified in Drosophila, mice, and human myoblasts, as well as in different cancers, such as glioma, hepatocellular carcinoma, and colon cancer. In this article, we review the mechanisms that drive translation of circRNAs and lncRNAs. Moreover, we discuss the research methods and tools available to identify their translation products and validate the function of these bioactive proteins/peptides in physiology and cancer.
长链非编码 RNA（lncRNAs）是长度超过 200 个核苷酸的功能性 RNA 片段，被认为是一种冗余的转录产物。最近，lncRNAs 被证明具有开放阅读框（ORF）序列，并编码蛋白质/肽。环状 RNA（circRNAs）长期以来被认为是另一种非编码 RNA（ncRNA），因为它们缺乏 5' 帽结构。然而，最近的研究表明，它们的序列中也具有 ORFs。circRNAs 可以通过内部核糖体进入位点（IRES）驱动或 N6-甲基腺苷（m6A）介导的起始进行翻译。迄今为止，已经在果蝇、小鼠和人类成肌细胞以及不同的癌症（如神经胶质瘤、肝细胞癌和结肠癌）中鉴定出了几种可翻译的 circRNAs 和 lncRNAs。在本文中，我们综述了驱动 circRNAs 和 lncRNAs 翻译的机制。此外，我们还讨论了可用于鉴定其翻译产物的研究方法和工具，并验证了这些生物活性蛋白/肽在生理和癌症中的功能。
