Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 110, Taiwan.
Division of Nephrology, Department of Internal Medicine, Wei-Gong Memorial Hospital, Miaoli 351, Taiwan.
Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Jan 18;23(3):1032. doi: 10.3390/ijms23031032.
Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are an emerging group of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and have attracted attention again according to the progress in high-throughput sequencing in recent years. circRNAs are genome transcripts produced from pre-messenger (m)RNA regions in a specific process called "back-splicing," which forms covalently closed continuous loops. Due to their lack of a 5' cap and 3' poly-adenylated tails, circRNAs are remarkably more stable than linear RNAs. Functionally, circRNAs can endogenously sponge to microRNAs, interact with RNA-binding proteins (RBPs), or translate themselves. Moreover, circRNAs can be expressed in cell type- or tissue-specific expression patterns. Therefore, they are proposed to play essential roles in fine-tuning our body's homeostasis by regulating transcription and translation processes. Indeed, there has been accumulating emergent evidence showing that dysregulation of circRNAs can lead to metabolic disorders. This study explored the current knowledge of circRNAs that regulate molecular processes associated with glucose and lipid homeostasis and related pathogeneses of metabolic disorders. We also suggest the potential role of circRNAs as disease biomarkers and therapeutic targets.
环状 RNA（circRNAs）是一类新兴的长非编码 RNA（lncRNA），近年来随着高通量测序技术的进步，再次引起了人们的关注。circRNAs 是由前信使（m）RNA 区域在一种称为“反向剪接”的特定过程中产生的基因组转录本，形成共价闭合的连续环。由于缺乏 5'帽和 3'多聚腺苷酸化尾巴，circRNAs 比线性 RNA 更加稳定。在功能上，circRNAs 可以内源性地与 microRNAs 结合，与 RNA 结合蛋白（RBPs）相互作用，或者自我翻译。此外，circRNAs 可以在细胞类型或组织特异性的表达模式中表达。因此，它们被认为通过调节转录和翻译过程，在微调我们身体的内稳态方面发挥着重要作用。事实上，越来越多的证据表明，circRNAs 的失调可能导致代谢紊乱。本研究探讨了调节与葡萄糖和脂质稳态相关的分子过程的 circRNAs 的最新知识，以及代谢紊乱相关的发病机制。我们还提出了 circRNAs 作为疾病生物标志物和治疗靶点的潜在作用。
