Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are non-coding RNAs with closed ends which makes them resistant to degrading enzyme RNAse R. These RNA molecules show cell, tissue or organ specific expression. Regulatory functions have been reported for a number of circRNAs. Particularly, they have been found to affect cell cycle and control cell proliferation. CircRNAs are involved in physiological processes like natural organ development. Their dysregulation in high-throughput technologies have been shown in a growing number of diseases especially many types of cancers such as renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Differentially expressed circRNAs in RCC tissues compared to normal tissues may affect carcinogenesis process. Overexpressed circRNAs promote tumorigenic functions of RCC cell lines while down-regulated transcripts repress them. Both dysregulated circRNAs are correlated with clinicopathological features, prognosis and survival in RCC patients which along with their acceptable diagnostic values suggest them as potential biomarkers in diagnosis or prediction of prognosis of RCC patients. In this review, we have assessed tumorigenic or tumor-suppressing effects of circRNAs and also their diagnostic and prognostic potentials in RCC.Copyright © 2021 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.
About The Expert
Arezou Sayad
- Department of Medical Genetics, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Sajad Najafi
- Student Research Committee, Department of Medical Biotechnology, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Amir Hossein Kashi
- Urology and Nephrology Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Seyed Jalil Hosseini
- Men’s Health and Reproductive Health Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Seyed Mohamamd Akrami
- Department of Medical Genetics, School of Medicine Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Mohammad Taheri
- Urology and Nephrology Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; Skull Base Research Center, Loghman Hakim Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: mohammad.taheri@sbmu.ac.ir.
Soudeh Ghafouri-Fard
- Department of Medical Genetics, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: s.ghafourifard@sbmu.ac.ir.
References
PubMed