Abstract
Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a novel class of RNAs with a covalently closed loop structure without a 3′ polyadenylation [poly-(A)] tail or a 5′ cap. They used to be considered as the occasional and useless products of RNA splicing errors because they could not be detected by traditional RNA sequencing technology. Benefiting from the development of specific biochemical and computational approaches, researchers showed that circRNAs are universally expressed and functional. Further studies have revealed their important functions regarding regulating gene expression at the transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels. These functions include acting as microRNA (miRNA) sponges, binding to RNA-binding proteins (RBPs), acting as transcriptional regulatory factors, and serving as translation templates. The advances in circRNA research has opened researchers' eyes to a new area of research on the roles of circRNAs in the pathogenesis of various diseases, especially at the immune level because of the close relationship between circRNAs and the immune response. Emerging research indicates that circRNAs could act as potential biomarkers related to diagnosis, therapeutic effects, and prognosis, and they may be effective therapeutic targets in immunological disorders, including certain diseases that are currently difficult to treat.
Highlights
Circular RNAs are a type of long non-coding RNA circularized without a 3′ polyadenylation [poly-(A)] tail or a 5′ cap, resulting in a covalently closed loop structure, and they are an important new research topic. circRNAs were first discovered in RNA viruses in the 1970s [1], but only a small number of circRNAs were initially discovered due to limitations in traditional polyadenylated transcriptome analyses
The Role of Circular RNAs review, we focus on the properties of circRNAs and their immune relationship to disease, revealing the functions of circRNAs in immune-related diseases
What’s more, in the peripheral blood, has-circRNA-103636 can be a potential novel non-invasive biomarker related to diagnosis and therapeutic effects in major depressive disorder (MDD), based on its differential expression between MDD patients and controls and its downregulation after 8-week treatment in MDD patients [47] (Table 1)
Summary
Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a type of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) circularized without a 3′ polyadenylation [poly-(A)] tail or a 5′ cap, resulting in a covalently closed loop structure, and they are an important new research topic. circRNAs were first discovered in RNA viruses in the 1970s [1], but only a small number of circRNAs were initially discovered due to limitations in traditional polyadenylated transcriptome analyses. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a type of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) circularized without a 3′ polyadenylation [poly-(A)] tail or a 5′ cap, resulting in a covalently closed loop structure, and they are an important new research topic. Owing to the development of specific biochemical and computational methods, recent studies have shown that abundant circRNAs occur in eukaryotic transcriptomes naturally and widely. It has been found that circRNAs play vital roles in many kinds of physiological and pathological processes, such as acting as miRNA sponges, binding to RNA-binding proteins (RBPs), acting as transcriptional regulatory factors, and even serving as translation templates. CircRNAs have become a new research topic, following on from miRNAs and lncRNAs. Researchers consider circRNAs as potential excellent biomarkers related to the diagnosis, therapeutic effects, and prognosis of various diseases, and they may be effective therapeutic targets due to their stability and tissue/development-stage specificity. We investigate several other diseases involving circRNAs to provide a basis for several other directions for future research
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