Yang Tingting, Spanos Michail, Wan Wensi, Xiao Junjie
Cardiac Regeneration and Ageing Lab, Institute of Geriatrics (Shanghai University), Affiliated Nantong Hospital of Shanghai University (The Sixth People's Hospital of Nantong) and School of Life Science, Shanghai University, Nantong, China.
Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Organ Repair, Joint International Research Laboratory of Biomaterials and Biotechnology in Organ Repair (Ministry of Education), School of Life Science, Shanghai University, Shanghai, China.
Adv Exp Med Biol. 2025;1485:255-271. doi: 10.1007/978-981-96-9428-0_17.
Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a class of RNA molecules generated through back-splicing of precursor mRNAs, characterized by a covalent 3',5'-phosphodiester bond at the junction site. They are broadly categorized into exonic circRNAs, exonic-intronic circRNAs, and intronic circRNAs. CircRNAs perform diverse biological functions in various diseases, including acting as miRNA sponges, modulating protein synthesis via interactions with RNA-binding proteins (RBPs), directly influencing gene expression, and, in some cases, undergoing translation into proteins. In the cardiovascular system, a plethora of circRNAs has been identified, contributing to pivotal processes involved in cardiovascular development and disease regulation. This chapter will summarize the latest research advancements on the role of circRNAs in cardiovascular diseases, such as pathological cardiac hypertrophy, myocardial infarction, myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury, dilated cardiomyopathy, and cardiac fibrosis. Additionally, we will explore the potential clinical applications of circRNAs as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in cardiovascular diseases.
环状RNA（circRNAs）是一类通过前体mRNA的反向剪接产生的RNA分子，其特征在于在连接位点处有一个共价3'，5'-磷酸二酯键。它们大致分为外显子circRNAs、外显子-内含子circRNAs和内含子circRNAs。circRNAs在各种疾病中发挥多种生物学功能，包括充当miRNA海绵、通过与RNA结合蛋白（RBPs）相互作用调节蛋白质合成、直接影响基因表达，以及在某些情况下翻译成蛋白质。在心血管系统中，已经鉴定出大量的circRNAs，它们参与心血管发育和疾病调节的关键过程。本章将总结circRNAs在心血管疾病（如病理性心肌肥大、心肌梗死、心肌缺血-再灌注损伤、扩张型心肌病和心脏纤维化）中作用的最新研究进展。此外，我们将探讨circRNAs作为心血管疾病诊断和预后生物标志物的潜在临床应用。
