Abstract
CircRNAs (circular RNAs) are single-stranded RNAs that form covalently closed loops and function as important regulatory elements of the genome through multiple mechanisms. Increasing evidence had indicated that circRNAs, which might serve as either oncogenes or tumor suppressors, played vital roles in the pathophysiology of human diseases, especially in tumorigenesis and progression. CircRNA-ZFR (circular RNA zinc finger RNA binding protein) is a circular RNA that had attracted much attention in recent years. It has been found that circRNA-ZFR was abnormally expressed in a variety of malignant tumors, and its dysregulated expression was closely related to tumor stage, cancer metastasis and patients’ prognosis. Recent studies had shown that aberrantly expressed circRNA-ZFR could regulate the malignant biological behaviors of tumors through various mechanisms; further exploration of circRNA-ZFR expression in tumors and its regulation on malignant biological behaviors such as tumor proliferation, invasion and drug resistance will provide new ideas for clinical tumors diagnosis and treatment.
Highlights
The genome-wide studies showed that greater than 70% of the human genome is transcribed into RNAs, while only approximately 2% of the sequences have the capacity to encode proteins
The western blot analysis results further demonstrated that augmented levels of circRNA-ZFR promoted MAPK1 expression in TPC-1 cells, while miR-16 augmentation partially counteracted the increased MAPK1 expression induced by circRNA-ZFR overexpression
CircRNA-ZFR was abnormally highly expressed in most malignant tumors such as bladder cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma, and promoted the malignant biological behaviors through numerous complex regulatory pathways; it could act as a tumor suppressor in gastric cancer and colorectal cancer, and has a certain inhibitory effect on tumor proliferation, invasion and migration
Summary
The genome-wide studies showed that greater than 70% of the human genome is transcribed into RNAs, while only approximately 2% of the sequences have the capacity to encode proteins. As a member of the circular RNA family, circRNA-ZFR had been shown to be abnormally expressed in human malignant tumors such as hepatocellular carcinoma, breast cancer and thyroid carcinoma, and several researches proved that circRNA-ZFR could impact the tumors development through affecting the glycolysis of tumor cells, regulating the tumor microenvironment and cell cycle (Li et al, 2020; Zhang et al, 2020).
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