Advances in the Study of CircRNAs in Tumor Drug Resistance

Abstract

Recent studies have revealed that circRNAs can affect tumor DNA damage and repair, apoptosis, proliferation, and invasion and influence the transport of intratumor substances by acting as miRNA sponges and transcriptional regulators and binding to proteins in a variety of ways. However, research on the role of circRNAs in cancer radiotherapy and chemoresistance is still in its early stages. Chemotherapy is a common approach to oncology treatment, but the development of tumor resistance limits the overall clinical efficacy of chemotherapy for cancer patients. The current study suggests that circRNAs have a facilitative or inhibitory effect on the development of resistance to conventional chemotherapy in a variety of tumors, suggesting that circRNAs may serve as a new direction for the study of antitumor drug resistance. In this review, we will briefly discuss the biological features of circRNAs and summarize the recent progression of the involvement of circRNAs in the development and pathogenesis of cancer chemoresistance.

Hsa_circ_0041150 serves as a novel biomarker for monitoring chemotherapy resistance in small cell lung cancer patients treated with a first-line chemotherapy regimen

“…These findings have opened up a new avenue for investigating antitumor drug resistance (Chen et al 2022 ; Jiang et al 2022 ). As the research on extracellular vesicles (EVs) advances, it has been revealed that EV circRNAs have significant clinical implications and value in the chemoresistance of malignant tumors (Wang et al 2022a ; Chen et al 2023 ). Building on our previous research related to EVs (Chao et al 2023 ), we aimed to identify differentially expressed circRNAs in EVs from platinum drug-resistant SCLC patients that could potentially serve as early indicative markers in clinical practice.…”

circACTR2 attenuates gemcitabine chemoresiatance in pancreatic cancer through PTEN mediated PI3K/AKT signaling pathway

“…The exploration of the mechanism underlying GEM resistance has been continuing, including the decrease of drug uptake efficiency, the expression of drug efflux transporters, the increase of enzymatic drug inactivation, the damage of cell apoptosis, the activation of epithelial mesenchymal transformation, and the stem pathway [ 16 ]. In recent years, non-coding RNA, especially circRNA, as a new epigenetic regulatory mechanism, has been found to play an important role in the pathogenesis of cancer, and can regulate the sensitivity of cancer cells to different chemotherapy drugs [ 17 ]. For example, circ_0013587 reverses erlotinib resistance in PC cells through regulating the miR-1227/E-Cadherin pathway [ 18 ].…”

Roles of circRNA dysregulation in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma tumor microenvironment

“…Albeit the mechanisms of platinum drug resistance have been the subject of numerous investigations, few efficient, targeted treatments are available ( 200 – 202 ). Mounting evidence suggests that circRNAs are involved in multiple cellular processes and malignancies, including ESCC ( 203 , 204 ). Understanding the underlying causes of chemoresistance is crucial for developing effective ESCC treatments and preventing recurrence.…”