Therapeutic Potential of Circular RNAs as Targets for Cancer Treatment

Abstract

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a novel class of non-coding RNAs primarily generated through a back-splicing process. These molecules exhibit extensive expression across various tissues, indicating their significant roles involvement in numerous biological process, particularly in complex diseases such as cancers. Based on their origin, structure, and biogenesis, circular RNAs are categorized into exonic circRNAs (ecirc-RNAs), circular intronic RNAs (ci-RNAs), or exonic-intronic circRNAs (EIci-RNAs). Due to their covalently closed-loop configuration, it is necessary to develop specialized technique to study them. CircRNAs are known to function as Protein and microRNA sponging, regulate of transcription, and interact with RNA-binding proteins (RBPs), and, in rare cases, serve as templates for translation. In this review, we provide an overview of circRNA features, biogenesis, and functions of circRNA. In addition, we tried to summarize molecular methods for studying them and explain their significant roles in malignancies.

Keywords: Circular RNA, Biogenesis, Diagnosis, Prognosis, Cancer