Circular RNAs in prostate cancer: Biogenesis, biological functions, and clinical significance

Abstract

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are covalently closed RNA molecules that play important regulatory roles in various tumors. Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most common malignant tumors in the world, with high morbidity and mortality. In recent years, more and more circRNAs have been found to be abnormally expressed and involved in the occurrence and development of PCa, including cell proliferation, apoptosis, invasion, migration, metastasis, chemotherapy resistance, and radiotherapy resistance. Most of the circRNAs regulate biological behaviors of cancer through a competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) regulatory mechanism, and some can exert their functions by binding to proteins. circRNAs are also associated with many clinicopathological features of PCa, including tumor grade, lymph node metastasis, and distant metastasis. In addition, circRNAs are potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for PCa. Considering their critical regulatory roles in the progression of PCa, circRNAs would be the potential therapeutic targets. In this paper, the current research status of circRNAs in PCa is briefly reviewed.

High Expression of Circular RNA–Mitochondrial tRNA Translation Optimization 1 Assists the Diagnosis of High-Risk Human Papillomavirus Infection in Cervical Cancer

“…Circular RNAs can exert regulatory roles via the ceRNA mechanism. 24 To preliminarily investigate the possible regulatory mechanism of circMTO1 in HR-HPV–positive CC, the binding sites between miR-199a and circMTO1 were predicted through the Starbase Web site ( https://starbase.sysu.edu.cn/index.php , p < .001; see Figure 3 A), and the binding relation was validated using dual-luciferase assay ( p < .001; see Figure 3 B). Furthermore, RT-qPCR was implemented to detect miR-199a expression in the serum of HR-HPV–negative/positive CC patients to explore the relationship between miR-199a and HR-HPV infection, which delineated a markedly decreased miR-199a in HR-HPV–positive CC patients compared with HR-HPV–negative ones ( p < .001; see Figure 3 C).…”

MicroRNAs as clinical tools for diagnosis, prognosis, and therapy in prostate cancer

“…Next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based methods are powerful tools to screen whole-genome miRNAs and are being extensively used in various systems including PCa [ [161] , [162] , [163] ]. These are high-throughput methods that can produce millions of reads in parallel allowing the profiling of known miRNAs as well as the discovery of new ones.…”

Cellular senescence: A potential mode of circular RNAs regulating prostate cancer

“…35,[144][145][146] Their unique stability and evolutionary conservatism make them ideal biomarkers and potential therapeutic targets for many cancers including PCa. [147][148][149][150][151][152] Here, we summarized the important functions and related regulatory mechanisms of circRNAs involved in PCa (Table 3). [190] circ_0070512 Up Promotes progression miR-338-3p/Hedgehog signaling pathway [191] circSPON2 Up Promotes progression miR-331-3p/PRMT5 axis [192] circSMARCC1 Up Promotes progression miR-1322/CCL20/CCR6 axis [193] circSCAF8 Up Promotes growth and metastasis miR-140-3p/miR-335-LIF axis [194] circEZH2 E2/E3 Up Promotes progression EZH2-circEZH2 E2/E3 -miR363/ miR708-EZH2 regulatory loop [195] circHMGCS1 Up Promotes progression miR-205-5p/ErBB3 axis [196] circARHGEF28 Down Inhibits progression miR-671-5p/LGALS3BP/NF-κB axis [121] circ_0063329 Down Inhibits growth and metastasis miR-605-5p/TGIF2 axis [197] circEPHA3 Down Inhibits progression miR-513a-3p/BMP2 axis [198] circDHRS3 Down Inhibits progression miR-421/MEIS2 axis [199] circPHF16…”