Najafi Sajad
Department of Medical Biotechnology, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
J Cancer Res Clin Oncol. 2023 May;149(5):2211-2234. doi: 10.1007/s00432-022-04328-z. Epub 2022 Sep 2.
Ovarian cancer (OC) is among the most common human malignancies and the first cause of deaths among gynecologic cancers. Early diagnosis can help improving prognosis in those patients, and accordingly exploring novel molecular mechanisms may lead to find therapeutic targets. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) comprise a group of non-coding RNAs in multicellular organisms, which are identified with characteristic circular structure. CircRNAs have been found with substantial functions in regulating gene expression through interacting with RNA-binding proteins, targeting microRNAs, and transcriptional regulation. They have been found to be involved in regulating several critical processes such as cell growth, and death, organ development, signal transduction, and tumorigenesis. Accordingly, circRNAs have been implicated in a number of human diseases including malignancies. They are particularly reported to contribute to several hallmarks of cancer leading to cancer development and progression, although a number also are described with tumor-suppressor function. In OC, circRNAs are linked to regulation of cell growth, invasiveness, metastasis, angiogenesis, and chemoresistance. Notably, clinical studies also have shown potentials in diagnosis, prediction of prognosis, and therapeutic targets for OC. In this review, I have an overview to the putative mechanisms, and functions of circRNAs in regulating OC pathogenesis in addition to their clinical potentials.
卵巢癌（OC）是最常见的人类恶性肿瘤之一，也是妇科癌症死亡的首要原因。早期诊断有助于改善这些患者的预后，因此探索新的分子机制可能会找到治疗靶点。环状RNA（circRNAs）是多细胞生物中的一类非编码RNA，具有特征性的环状结构。已发现circRNAs在通过与RNA结合蛋白相互作用、靶向微小RNA和转录调控来调节基因表达方面具有重要功能。它们还参与调节细胞生长、死亡、器官发育、信号转导和肿瘤发生等多个关键过程。因此，circRNAs与包括恶性肿瘤在内的多种人类疾病有关。特别值得一提的是，尽管也有一些circRNAs具有肿瘤抑制功能，但它们被报道与导致癌症发生和发展的几个癌症标志有关。在OC中，circRNAs与细胞生长、侵袭、转移、血管生成和化疗耐药性的调节有关。值得注意的是，临床研究也显示了circRNAs在OC诊断、预后预测和治疗靶点方面的潜力。在这篇综述中，我除了概述circRNAs在调节OC发病机制中的潜在机制和功能外，还介绍了它们的临床潜力。
