生物
小RNA
计算生物学
功能(生物学)
癌症
基因表达调控
基因
RNA剪接
基因表达
转录因子
遗传学
核糖核酸
作者
Esther Arnaiz,Carla Solé,Lorea Manterola,Leire Iparraguirre,David Otaegui,Charles H. Lawrie
标识
DOI:10.1016/j.semcancer.2018.12.002
摘要
Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a novel class of regulatory RNAs that despite being relatively abundant have only recently begun to be explored. There are many thousands of genes that appear capable of producing circRNAs, however the function of all but a handful remain to be determined. What is emerging about these highly conserved molecules is that they play important roles in biology and cancer biology in particular. The most explored function of circRNAs is as master regulators of gene expression that act to sequester or ´sponge´ other gene expression regulators, in particular miRNAs. They have also been demonstrated to function via direct modulation of transcription, and by interfering with splicing mechanisms. Although generally expressed in low abundance when compared to their linear counterparts, they are often expressed in a tissue- and developmental stage- specific manner. Coupled with their remarkable resistance to RNAse activity due to a covalent closed cyclic structure, circRNAs show great promise as novel biomarkers of cancer and other diseases. In this review we consider the current state of knowledge regarding these molecules, their synthesis, function, and association with cancer. We will also review some of the challenges that remain to be resolved if this emerging class of RNAs are really to become useful in the clinic.
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