CircRNAs in anticancer drug resistance: recent advances and future potential

Abstract

CircRNAs are a novel class of RNA molecules with a unique closed continuous loop structure. CircRNAs are abundant in eukaryotic cells, have unique stability and tissue specificity, and can play a biological regulatory role at various levels, such as transcriptional and posttranscriptional levels. Numerous studies have indicated that circRNAs serve a crucial purpose in cancer biology. CircRNAs regulate tumor behavioral phenotypes such as proliferation and migration through various molecular mechanisms, such as miRNA sponging, transcriptional regulation, and protein interaction. Recently, several reports have demonstrated that they are also deeply involved in resistance to anticancer drugs, from traditional chemotherapeutic drugs to targeted and immunotherapeutic drugs. This review is the first to summarize the latest research on circRNAs in anticancer drug resistance based on drug classification and to discuss their potential clinical applications.

Review on circular RNAs and new insights into their roles in cancer

“…Furthermore, circRNAs have been confirmed to participate in anticancer drug resistance. The latest studies on circRNAs in anticancer drug resistance were summarized by Xu et al [242] ranging from traditional chemotherapeutic drugs to targeted and immunotherapeutic drugs, which will expand their clinical potential and serve as a research hotspot. Hence, the appropriate and precise use of circRNAs is essential in the field of cancer studies, as well as the new foothold for precision medicine in the near future.…”

The Mechanistic Roles of ncRNAs in Promoting and Supporting Chemoresistance of Colorectal Cancer

“…From the known ncRNAs (Figure 1), miRNAs and lncRNAs are the two most studied and understood ncRNAs involved in chemoresistance [23,24,26,27,70,116,186,187]. CircRNAs amongst the other ncRNAs have also been shown to be involved in chemoresistance [25,[188][189][190], but how circRNAs contribute to chemoresistance in CRC is an area which is limited and requires more research when compared to the contribution of miRNAs and lncRNAs to CRC chemoresistance. The link between the activity of these three ncRNAs and the development of CRC chemoresistance has been studied and characterised by different research groups.…”

Circular RNA CircCOL5A1 Sponges the MiR-7-5p/Epac1 Axis to Promote the Progression of Keloids Through Regulating PI3K/Akt Signaling Pathway

“…Unlike the linear RNA, circRNAs are a covalently closed single-stranded RNA, in which the junction of the 3′ end and 5′ end of the exon are tightly connected. Based on their peculiar structure, circRNAs exist in multiple species with high sequence conservation and are not easily degraded by exonuclease ( Xu et al, 2020 ). Additionally, circRNA possesses multiple functions at the post-transcriptional level, including acting as a microRNA (miRNA) sponge, binding to RNA-binding proteins (RBPs), regulating transcription and translation ( Di Timoteo et al, 2020 ).…”