Abstract
Circular RNAs (circRNAs) which were once considered as “junk” are now in the spotlight as a potential player in regulating human diseases, especially cancer. With the development of high throughput technologies in recent years, the full potential of circRNAs is being uncovered. CircRNAs possess some unique characteristics and advantageous properties that could benefit medical research and clinical applications. CircRNAs are stable with covalently closed loops that are resistant to ribonucleases, have disease stage-specific expressions and are selectively abundant in different types of tissues. Interestingly, the presence of circRNAs in different types of treatment resistance in human cancers was recently observed with the involvement of a few key pathways. The activation of certain pathways by circRNAs may give new insights to treatment resistance management. The potential usage of circRNAs from this aspect is very much in its infancy stage and has not been fully validated. This mini-review attempts to highlight the possible role of circRNAs as regulators of treatment resistance in human cancers based on its intersection molecules and cancer-related regulatory networks.
Highlights
Increasing evidence has shown that circular RNAs a form of non-coding RNA is involved in important biological processes and cellular functions (Kristensen et al, 2018)
The MEK/ERK cascade was shown to be exclusively deactivated when EGFR expression is inhibited. These findings suggest that dysregulation in any tier of this cascade affects the levels of circRNA and may contribute to treatment resistance
Current studies are trying to approach the dual inhibition of MET and EGFR in managing resistance in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) patients (Ko et al, 2017). Another notable circRNA that plays a role in Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase (MAPK) pathway is ciRS-7, which is known to sponge to miR-7 and elevates the expression of target genes (Hansen et al, 2013a; Weng et al, 2017). ciRS-7 is known as a super sponge for miR-7 with more than 70 binding sites and act as an expression inhibitor (Hansen et al, 2013a; Hansen et al, 2013b)
Summary
Circular RNAs: Potential Regulators of Treatment Resistance in Human Cancers. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) which were once considered as “junk” are in the spotlight as a potential player in regulating human diseases, especially cancer. The presence of circRNAs in different types of treatment resistance in human cancers was recently observed with the involvement of a few key pathways. The potential usage of circRNAs from this aspect is very much in its infancy stage and has not been fully validated. This mini-review attempts to highlight the possible role of circRNAs as regulators of treatment resistance in human cancers based on its intersection molecules and cancer-related regulatory networks
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
