Pu Zuo, Lu Jingbo, Yang Xiaohan
Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Fuwai Hospital Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Shenzhen, China.
Front Genet. 2022 Jan 19;12:749296. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2021.749296. eCollection 2021.
Atherosclerosis is the major pathophysiological basis of cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases. Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) constitute the main structure of vasculature and play important roles in maintaining vascular tone and blood pressure. Many biological processes and cellular signaling events involved in atherosclerogenesis have been shown to converge on deregulating VSMC functions. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying dysfunctional VSMC in atherosclerosis are still poorly defined. Recent evidence revealed that circular RNAs (circRNAs) are closely related to diseases such as degenerative diseases, tumor, congenital diseases, endocrine diseases and cardiovascular diseases. Several studies demonstrated that circRNAs (e.g., circACTA2, Circ-SATB2, circDiaph3, circ_0020397, circTET3, circCCDC66) played critical roles in the regulation of VSMC proliferation, migration, invasion, and contractile-to-synthetic phenotype transformation by sponging microRNAs (e.g., miR-548f-5p, miR-939, miR-148a-5p, miR-138, miR-351-5p, miR-342-3p). This review describes recent progress in the profiling of circRNAs by transcriptome analysis in VSMCs and their molecular functions in regulating VSMC proliferation and migration.
动脉粥样硬化是脑血管疾病和心血管疾病的主要病理生理基础。血管平滑肌细胞（VSMC）构成血管系统的主要结构，并在维持血管张力和血压方面发挥重要作用。许多参与动脉粥样硬化发生的生物学过程和细胞信号事件已被证明会导致VSMC功能失调。然而，动脉粥样硬化中功能失调的VSMC的分子机制仍不清楚。最近的证据表明，环状RNA（circRNA）与退行性疾病、肿瘤、先天性疾病、内分泌疾病和心血管疾病等疾病密切相关。几项研究表明，circRNA（如circACTA2、Circ-SATB2、circDiaph3、circ_0020397、circTET3、circCCDC66）通过海绵化微小RNA（如miR-548f-5p、miR-939、miR-148a-5p、miR-138、miR-351-5p、miR-342-3p）在调节VSMC增殖、迁移、侵袭以及收缩型向合成型表型转化中起关键作用。本综述描述了通过转录组分析在VSMC中对circRNA进行谱分析的最新进展及其在调节VSMC增殖和迁移中的分子功能。
