circEPS15 Overexpression in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Modulates Tumor Invasion and Migration

Circular RNAs in hepatocellular carcinoma: biogenesis, function, and pathology

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common causes of cancer-related death worldwide. Both genetic and environmental factors through a multitude of underlying molecular mechanisms participate in the pathogenesis of HCC. Recently, numerous studies have shown that circular RNAs (circRNAs), an emerging class of non-coding RNAs characterized by the presence of covalent bonds linking 3' and 5' ends, play an important role in the initiation and progression of cancers, including HCC. In this review, we outline the current status of the field of circRNAs, with an emphasis on the functions and mechanisms of circRNAs in HCC and its microenvironment. We also summarize and discuss recent advances of circRNAs as biomarkers and therapeutic targets. These efforts are anticipated to throw new insights into future perspectives about circRNAs in basic, translational and clinical research, eventually advancing the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of HCC.

Expression characteristics of circular RNA in human traumatic brain injury

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) causes high rates of worldwide mortality and morbidity due to the complex secondary injury cascade. Recently, circular ribonucleic acids (circRNAs) have attracted significant attention in a variety of diseases. However, their expression characteristics in human TBI are still unclear. In this study, we examined brain injury tissues from six severe TBI patients in Jinling Hospital. The TBI tissues and adjacent brain contusion tissues were used to analyze differential expression signatures of circRNAs through full-length transcriptome sequencing, Gene Ontology (GO) analysis, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis, and ceRNA network construction. Our results found that there were 126 differently expressed circRNAs in TBI. Among them, 64 circRNAs were up-regulated and 62 circRNAs were down-regulated. Moreover, GO and KEGG analyses revealed that the aberrantly expressed circRNAs participated in many pathophysiological processes of TBI, especially regarding microglial cell activation, protein transport, protein processing and inflammation. Furthermore, the ceRNA (circRNA-miRNA-mRNA) network predicted that there existed strong relationship among circRNA, miRNA and mRNA. Taken together, our results indicated for the first time that the expression profiles of circRNAs were different after human TBI. In addition, we found the signaling pathways that were related to circRNAs and predicted a ceRNA network, which provided new insight of circRNAs in human TBI.