Yu Jianwen, Xie Danli, Huang Naya, Zhou Qin
Department of Nephrology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
National Health Commission Key Laboratory of Nephrology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Front Med (Lausanne). 2021 Sep 16;8:714958. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2021.714958. eCollection 2021.
Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a novel type of non-coding RNAs that have aroused growing attention in this decade. They are widely expressed in eukaryotes and generally have high stability owing to their special closed-loop structure. Many circRNAs are abundant, evolutionarily conserved, and exhibit cell-type-specific and tissue-specific expression patterns. Mounting evidence suggests that circRNAs have regulatory potency for gene expression by acting as microRNA sponges, interacting with proteins, regulating transcription, or directly undergoing translation. Dysregulated expression of circRNAs were found in many pathological conditions and contribute to the pathogenesis and progression of various disorders, including renal diseases. Recent studies have revealed that circRNAs may serve as novel reliable biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis prediction of multiple kidney diseases, such as renal cell carcinoma (RCC), acute kidney injury (AKI), diabetic kidney disease (DKD), and other glomerular diseases. Furthermore, circRNAs expressed by intrinsic kidney cells are shown to play a substantial role in kidney injury, mostly reported in DKD and RCC. Herein, we review the biogenesis and biological functions of circRNAs, and summarize their roles as promising biomarkers and therapeutic targets in common kidney diseases.
环状RNA（circRNAs）是一类新型的非编码RNA，在这十年中受到了越来越多的关注。它们在真核生物中广泛表达，由于其特殊的闭环结构，通常具有较高的稳定性。许多circRNAs含量丰富，具有进化保守性，并表现出细胞类型特异性和组织特异性的表达模式。越来越多的证据表明，circRNAs通过充当微小RNA海绵、与蛋白质相互作用、调节转录或直接进行翻译，对基因表达具有调控作用。在许多病理状况下都发现了circRNAs的表达失调，其与包括肾脏疾病在内的各种疾病的发病机制和进展有关。最近的研究表明，circRNAs可能作为多种肾脏疾病（如肾细胞癌（RCC）、急性肾损伤（AKI）、糖尿病肾病（DKD）和其他肾小球疾病）诊断和预后预测的新型可靠生物标志物。此外，内源性肾细胞表达的circRNAs在肾损伤中发挥重要作用，这在DKD和RCC中报道较多。在此，我们综述了circRNAs的生物发生和生物学功能，并总结了它们作为常见肾脏疾病中有前景的生物标志物和治疗靶点的作用。
