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Review
. 2023 Jul 31;21(1):516.
doi: 10.1186/s12967-023-04348-4.

Recent advances of exosomal circRNAs in cancer and their potential clinical applications

Qian Yi  1 , Jiaji Yue  2 , Yang Liu  2 , Houyin Shi  3 , Wei Sun  2 , Jianguo Feng  4 , Weichao Sun  5   6
Affiliations
Review

Recent advances of exosomal circRNAs in cancer and their potential clinical applications

Qian Yi et al. J Transl Med. .

Abstract

Circular RNA (circRNA) is a type of non-coding RNA that forms a covalently closed, uninterrupted loop. The expression of circRNA differs among cell types and tissues, and various circRNAs are aberrantly expressed in a variety of diseases, including cancer. Aberrantly expressed circRNAs contribute to disease progression by acting as microRNA sponges, functional protein sponges, or novel templates for protein translation. Recent studies have shown that circRNAs are enriched in exosomes. Exosomes are spherical bilayer vesicles released by cells into extracellular spaces that mediate intercellular communication by delivering cargoes. These cargoes include metabolites, proteins, lipids, and RNA molecules. Exosome-mediated cell-cell or cell-microenvironment communications influence the progression of carcinogenesis by regulating cell proliferation, angiogenesis, metastasis as well as immune escape. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge about exosomal circRNAs in cancers and discuss their specific functions in tumorigenesis. Additionally, we discuss the potential value of exosomal circRNAs as diagnostic biomarkers and the potential applications of exosomal circRNA-based cancer therapy.

Keywords: Cancer treatment; Disgnostic biomarker; Exosome; Tumorigenesis; circRNAs.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Structural schematic diagram of circRNA and exosomes. A The formation process of covalently closed, uninterrupted loop circRNAs and their biological functions; B the lipid bilayer structure of exosomes and its molecules contents; C Exosomes mediate the communications among different type cells
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Exosomal circRNAs mediate the communication between tumor cells and immune cells. A The effect of cancer-associated fibroblasts-derived exosomal circRNAs on T cells; B The effect of cancer cell-derived exosomal circRNAs on tumor cells; C The effect of cancer cell-derived exosomal circRNAs on Macrophage cells; D The effect of cancer cell-derived exosomal circRNAs on Natural killer cells; E: The effect of cancer cell-derived exosomal circRNAs on Neutrophils
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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