Wang Song, Ying Yufan, Ma Xueyou, Wang Weiyu, Wang Xiao, Xie Liping
Department of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
Front Mol Biosci. 2021 Nov 19;8:761698. doi: 10.3389/fmolb.2021.761698. eCollection 2021.
Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a novel class of noncoding RNAs, which are mainly formed as a loop structure at the exons caused by noncanonical splicing; they are much more stable than linear transcripts; recent reports have suggested that the dysregulation of circRNAs is associated with the occurrence and development of diseases, especially various human malignancies. Emerging evidence demonstrated that a large number of circRNAs play a vital role in a series of biological processes such as tumor cell proliferation, migration, drug resistance, and immune escape. Additionally, circRNAs were also reported to be potential prognostic and diagnostic biomarkers in cancers. In this work, we systematically summarize the biogenesis and characteristics of circRNAs, paying special attention to potential mechanisms and clinical applications of circRNAs in urological cancers, which may help develop potential therapy targets for urological cancers in the future.
环状RNA（circRNAs）是一类新型的非编码RNA，主要通过非经典剪接在外显子处形成环状结构；它们比线性转录本稳定得多；最近的报道表明，circRNAs的失调与疾病尤其是各种人类恶性肿瘤的发生和发展有关。新出现的证据表明，大量circRNAs在肿瘤细胞增殖、迁移、耐药性和免疫逃逸等一系列生物学过程中发挥着至关重要的作用。此外，circRNAs也被报道为癌症潜在的预后和诊断生物标志物。在这项工作中，我们系统地总结了circRNAs的生物发生和特征，特别关注circRNAs在泌尿系统癌症中的潜在机制和临床应用，这可能有助于未来开发泌尿系统癌症的潜在治疗靶点。
