Jiao Shihu, Wu Song, Huang Shan, Liu Mingyang, Gao Bo
Hainan Key Laboratory for Computational Science and Application, Hainan Normal University, Haikou, China.
Yangtze Delta Region Institute (Quzhou), University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Quzhou, China.
Front Genet. 2021 Mar 19;12:665233. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2021.665233. eCollection 2021.
Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a class of endogenous non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) with a closed-loop structure that are mainly produced by variable processing of precursor mRNAs (pre-mRNAs). They are widely present in all eukaryotes and are very stable. Currently, circRNA studies have become a hotspot in RNA research. It has been reported that circRNAs constitute a significant proportion of transcript expression, and some are significantly more abundantly expressed than other transcripts. CircRNAs have regulatory roles in gene expression and critical biological functions in the development of organisms, such as acting as microRNA sponges or as endogenous RNAs and biomarkers. As such, they may have useful functions in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. CircRNAs have been found to play an important role in the development of several diseases, including atherosclerosis, neurological disorders, diabetes, and cancer. In this paper, we review the status of circRNA research, describe circRNA-related databases and the identification of circRNAs, discuss the role of circRNAs in human diseases such as colon cancer, atherosclerosis, and gastric cancer, and identify remaining research questions related to circRNAs.
环状RNA（circRNAs）是一类具有闭环结构的内源性非编码RNA（ncRNAs），主要由前体mRNA（pre-mRNAs）的可变加工产生。它们广泛存在于所有真核生物中，并且非常稳定。目前，circRNA研究已成为RNA研究的热点。据报道，circRNAs在转录本表达中占很大比例，有些circRNAs的表达量明显高于其他转录本。circRNAs在基因表达中具有调控作用，在生物体发育中具有关键生物学功能，例如作为微小RNA海绵或作为内源性RNA和生物标志物。因此，它们可能在疾病的诊断和治疗中具有有用的功能。已发现circRNAs在多种疾病的发生发展中起重要作用，包括动脉粥样硬化、神经疾病、糖尿病和癌症。在本文中，我们综述了circRNA的研究现状，描述了与circRNA相关的数据库以及circRNAs的鉴定方法，讨论了circRNAs在人类疾病如结肠癌、动脉粥样硬化和胃癌中的作用，并确定了与circRNAs相关的剩余研究问题。
