Circular RNAs: emerging cancer biomarkers and targets

Abstract CircRNAs are a class of RNA molecules that structurally form closed loops. CircRNAs are abundant in eukaryotic transcripts and show certain levels of tissue and cell specificity. CircRNAs have been suggested to regulate gene expression at transcriptional, post-transcriptional, and translati...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Yu Zhang, Wei Liang, Peng Zhang, Jingyan Chen, Hui Qian, Xu Zhang, Wenrong Xu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2017-11-01
Series:Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research
Subjects:
Online Access:http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13046-017-0624-z
Description
Summary:Abstract CircRNAs are a class of RNA molecules that structurally form closed loops. CircRNAs are abundant in eukaryotic transcripts and show certain levels of tissue and cell specificity. CircRNAs have been suggested to regulate gene expression at transcriptional, post-transcriptional, and translational levels. An increasing number of studies have shown that circRNAs play important roles in the development and progression of diseases including cancer. In particular, circRNAs have shown great potential in cancer diagnosis, prognosis, and therapy. In this review, we provide an overview of the biogenesis and characteristics of circRNAs, succinctly describe their functions, and comprehensively discuss about the recent advances in the roles of circRNAs in cancer with an emphasis on their clinical values.
ISSN:1756-9966