CircRNAs and their regulatory roles in cancers

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Abstract

Circular RNAs (circRNAs), a novel type of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), have a covalently closed circular structure resulting from pre-mRNA back splicing via spliceosome and ribozymes. They can be classified differently in accordance with different criteria. As circRNAs are abundant, conserved, and stable, they can be used as diagnostic markers in various diseases and targets to develop new therapies. There are various functions of circRNAs, including sponge for miR/proteins, role of scaffolds, templates for translation, and regulators of mRNA translation and stability. Without m7G cap and poly-A tail, circRNAs can still be degraded in several ways, including RNase L, Ago-dependent, and Ago-independent degradation. Increasing evidence indicates that circRNAs can be modified by N-6 methylation (m6A) in many aspects such as biogenesis, nuclear export, translation, and degradation. In addition, they have been proved to play a regulatory role in the progression of various cancers. Recently, methods of detecting circRNAs with high sensitivity and specificity have also been reported. This review presents a detailed overview of circRNAs regarding biogenesis, biomarker, functions, degradation, and dynamic modification as well as their regulatory roles in various cancers. It’s particularly summarized in detail in the biogenesis of circRNAs, regulation of circRNAs by m6A modification and mechanisms by which circRNAs affect tumor progression respectively. Moreover, existing circRNA detection methods and their characteristics are also mentioned.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s10020-021-00359-3.

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Most cited references 211

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Lindsey A Torre, Freddie Bray, Rebecca Siegel … (2015)

Cancer constitutes an enormous burden on society in more and less economically developed countries alike. The occurrence of cancer is increasing because of the growth and aging of the population, as well as an increasing prevalence of established risk factors such as smoking, overweight, physical inactivity, and changing reproductive patterns associated with urbanization and economic development. Based on GLOBOCAN estimates, about 14.1 million new cancer cases and 8.2 million deaths occurred in 2012 worldwide. Over the years, the burden has shifted to less developed countries, which currently account for about 57% of cases and 65% of cancer deaths worldwide. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among males in both more and less developed countries, and has surpassed breast cancer as the leading cause of cancer death among females in more developed countries; breast cancer remains the leading cause of cancer death among females in less developed countries. Other leading causes of cancer death in more developed countries include colorectal cancer among males and females and prostate cancer among males. In less developed countries, liver and stomach cancer among males and cervical cancer among females are also leading causes of cancer death. Although incidence rates for all cancers combined are nearly twice as high in more developed than in less developed countries in both males and females, mortality rates are only 8% to 15% higher in more developed countries. This disparity reflects regional differences in the mix of cancers, which is affected by risk factors and detection practices, and/or the availability of treatment. Risk factors associated with the leading causes of cancer death include tobacco use (lung, colorectal, stomach, and liver cancer), overweight/obesity and physical inactivity (breast and colorectal cancer), and infection (liver, stomach, and cervical cancer). A substantial portion of cancer cases and deaths could be prevented by broadly applying effective prevention measures, such as tobacco control, vaccination, and the use of early detection tests. © 2015 American Cancer Society.

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Circular RNAs are a large class of animal RNAs with regulatory potency.

Sebastian Memczak, Marvin Jens, Antigoni Elefsinioti … (2013)

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) in animals are an enigmatic class of RNA with unknown function. To explore circRNAs systematically, we sequenced and computationally analysed human, mouse and nematode RNA. We detected thousands of well-expressed, stable circRNAs, often showing tissue/developmental-stage-specific expression. Sequence analysis indicated important regulatory functions for circRNAs. We found that a human circRNA, antisense to the cerebellar degeneration-related protein 1 transcript (CDR1as), is densely bound by microRNA (miRNA) effector complexes and harbours 63 conserved binding sites for the ancient miRNA miR-7. Further analyses indicated that CDR1as functions to bind miR-7 in neuronal tissues. Human CDR1as expression in zebrafish impaired midbrain development, similar to knocking down miR-7, suggesting that CDR1as is a miRNA antagonist with a miRNA-binding capacity ten times higher than any other known transcript. Together, our data provide evidence that circRNAs form a large class of post-transcriptional regulators. Numerous circRNAs form by head-to-tail splicing of exons, suggesting previously unrecognized regulatory potential of coding sequences.

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Cancer Statistics, 2008

A. Jemal, R. Siegel, E. Ward … (2008)

Each year, the American Cancer Society estimates the number of new cancer cases and deaths expected in the United States in the current year and compiles the most recent data on cancer incidence, mortality, and survival based on incidence data from the National Cancer Institute, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries and mortality data from the National Center for Health Statistics. Incidence and death rates are age-standardized to the 2000 US standard million population. A total of 1,437,180 new cancer cases and 565,650 deaths from cancer are projected to occur in the United States in 2008. Notable trends in cancer incidence and mortality include stabilization of incidence rates for all cancer sites combined in men from 1995 through 2004 and in women from 1999 through 2004 and a continued decrease in the cancer death rate since 1990 in men and since 1991 in women. Overall cancer death rates in 2004 compared with 1990 in men and 1991 in women decreased by 18.4% and 10.5%, respectively, resulting in the avoidance of over a half million deaths from cancer during this time interval. This report also examines cancer incidence, mortality, and survival by site, sex, race/ethnicity, education, geographic area, and calendar year, as well as the proportionate contribution of selected sites to the overall trends. Although much progress has been made in reducing mortality rates, stabilizing incidence rates, and improving survival, cancer still accounts for more deaths than heart disease in persons under age 85 years. Further progress can be accelerated by supporting new discoveries and by applying existing cancer control knowledge across all segments of the population.

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Author and article information

Contributors

Weiwei Zhang: zhangweiwei16@mails.ucas.edu.cn

Shaoqing Ju:

ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4084-1392

jsq814@hotmail.com

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Mol Med

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Mol Med

Title: Molecular Medicine

Publisher: BioMed Central (London )

ISSN (Print): 1076-1551

ISSN (Electronic): 1528-3658

Publication date (Electronic): 26 August 2021

Publication date PMC-release: 26 August 2021

Publication date Collection: 2021

Volume: 27

Electronic Location Identifier: 94

Affiliations

[1 ]GRID grid.440642.0, ISNI 0000 0004 0644 5481, Department of Laboratory Medicine, , Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, ; Xisi Road, No.20, Nantong, 226001 Jiangsu China

[2 ]GRID grid.440642.0, ISNI 0000 0004 0644 5481, Research Center of Clinical Medicine, , Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, ; Nantong, 226001 Jiangsu China

[3 ]GRID grid.260483.b, ISNI 0000 0000 9530 8833, Medical School of Nantong University, , Nantong University, ; Nantong, 226001 Jiangsu China

Author information

Shaoqing Ju http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4084-1392

Article

Publisher ID: 359

DOI: 10.1186/s10020-021-00359-3

PMC ID: 8393742

PubMed ID: 34445958

SO-VID: cdb4c446-ecd8-4ebf-87eb-03054ce49253

License:

Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

History

Date received : 13 June 2021

Date accepted : 18 August 2021

Funding

Funded by: FundRef http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001809, national natural science foundation of china;

Award ID: 81871720

Award Recipient : Shaoqing Ju

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Keywords: circular rna (circrna),n-6 methylation (m6a),biogenesis,translation,degradation,cancers

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Keywords: circular rna (circrna), n-6 methylation (m6a), biogenesis, translation, degradation, cancers

CircRNAs and their regulatory roles in cancers

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Most cited references 211

Global cancer statistics, 2012.

Circular RNAs are a large class of animal RNAs with regulatory potency.

Cancer Statistics, 2008

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