Zhang Chengshou, Hu Jianghua, Yu Yibo
Eye Center of the Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
Department of Ophthalmology, Jiande Branch, The Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
Front Cell Dev Biol. 2020 Sep 3;8:850. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2020.00850. eCollection 2020.
A newly rediscovered subclass of noncoding RNAs, circular RNAs (circRNAs), is produced by a back-splicing mechanism with a covalently closed loop structure. They not only serve as the sponge for microRNAs (miRNAs) and proteins but also regulate gene expression and epigenetic modification, translate into peptides, and generate pseudogenes. Dysregulation of circRNA expression has opened a new chapter in the etiology of various human disorders, including cancer and cardiovascular, neurodegenerative, and ocular diseases. Recent studies recognized the vital roles that circRNAs played in the pathogenesis of various eye diseases, highlighting circRNAs as promising biomarkers for diagnosis and assessment of progression and prognosis. Interventions targeting circRNAs provide insights for developing novel treatments for these ocular diseases. This review summarizes our current perception of the properties, biogenesis, and functions of circRNAs and the development of circRNA researches related to ophthalmologic diseases, including diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, retinopathy of prematurity, glaucoma, corneal neovascularization, cataract, pterygium, proliferative vitreoretinopathy, retinoblastoma, and ocular melanoma.
一种新发现的非编码RNA亚类，即环状RNA（circRNA），是通过具有共价闭合环结构的反向剪接机制产生的。它们不仅作为微小RNA（miRNA）和蛋白质的海绵，还调节基因表达和表观遗传修饰，翻译成肽，并产生假基因。circRNA表达失调为各种人类疾病（包括癌症、心血管疾病、神经退行性疾病和眼部疾病）的病因学开启了新篇章。最近的研究认识到circRNA在各种眼部疾病发病机制中所起的重要作用，凸显了circRNA作为诊断以及评估疾病进展和预后的有前景的生物标志物。针对circRNA的干预措施为开发这些眼部疾病的新疗法提供了思路。本综述总结了我们目前对circRNA的特性、生物合成、功能以及与眼科疾病（包括糖尿病性视网膜病变、年龄相关性黄斑变性、早产儿视网膜病变、青光眼、角膜新生血管、白内障、翼状胬肉、增殖性玻璃体视网膜病变、视网膜母细胞瘤和眼黑色素瘤）相关的circRNA研究进展的认识。
