Current advances in our understanding of circular RNA (circRNA) in Alzheimer’s disease (AD); the potential utilization of synthetic circRNAs as a therapeutic strategy in the clinical management of AD

Abstract

Current advances in our understanding of circular RNA (circRNA) in Alzheimer's disease (AD); the potential utilization of synthetic circRNAs as a therapeutic strategy in the clinical management of AD.

Brain-protective mechanisms of autophagy associated circRNAs: Kick starting self-cleaning mode in brain cells via circRNAs as a potential therapeutic approach for neurodegenerative diseases

“…CircRNAs exhibit cell-specific, tissue-specific and developmental stage specific expression patterns with high stability due to the lack of free ends typically targeted by 3′ and 5′ exoribonucleases and have a half-life of more than 48 h compared to linear transcripts with half-life of ~6 h ( Huang et al, 2017b ). Furthermore, circRNAs exhibits distinct disease-specific characteristics under different pathological states which makes them promising therapeutic targets as well as potential diagnostic, predictive, and prognostic biomarkers for many incapacitating human diseases ( Verduci et al, 2021 ; Zhao et al, 2022 ). Numerous ncRNAs have been reported to regulate cell death processes including autophagy, apoptosis and necrosis.…”

“…Later on researchers revealed the significance of cirRS-7/miR-7/UBEA2 axis in AD. They reported that down-regulation of ciRS-7 in AD contributed to an up-regulation of miRNA-7 which in turn down-regulated an autophagic, phagocytic protein essential in the clearance of neurotoxic amyloid-beta (Aβ) peptides namely ubiquitin protein ligase A (UBE2A; Zhao et al, 2022 ). It has been suggested that the deregulation of circRNA signaling is involved in blood–brain barrier disruption, angiogenesis, inhibition of pro-inflammatory signaling, apoptosis, autophagy disruption and alteration of cognitive functions in both acute and chronic CNS injury ( Zhao et al, 2022 ).…”

“…They reported that down-regulation of ciRS-7 in AD contributed to an up-regulation of miRNA-7 which in turn down-regulated an autophagic, phagocytic protein essential in the clearance of neurotoxic amyloid-beta (Aβ) peptides namely ubiquitin protein ligase A (UBE2A; Zhao et al, 2022 ). It has been suggested that the deregulation of circRNA signaling is involved in blood–brain barrier disruption, angiogenesis, inhibition of pro-inflammatory signaling, apoptosis, autophagy disruption and alteration of cognitive functions in both acute and chronic CNS injury ( Zhao et al, 2022 ). Regardless of the well-documented synaptic and neuronal circRNAs that display abnormalities in brain diseases, an ample understanding of the circRNA landscape and its downstream regulatory pathways in the human brain is still missing ( Li et al, 2022c ).…”

Editorial: Disease-modifying targets and strategies for Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease

“…“ Synthetic circular RNA (circRNA) as a therapeutic strategy for Alzheimer's disease (AD) ” (Zhao et al, 2022 ). Synthetic circRNAs have recently been identified as a potential therapeutic strategy for AD.…”

“…This hinders the degradation of amyloid-beta (Aβ) peptides. Zhao et al ( 2022 ) proposed synthetic circRNAs as a potential treatment for AD and other neurodegenerative diseases.…”