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Review
. 2025 Apr;26(4):230-244.
doi: 10.1038/s41576-024-00806-x. Epub 2025 Jan 9.

The therapeutic potential of circular RNAs

Eoghan O'Leary  1 , Yanyi Jiang  2 , Lasse S Kristensen  3 , Thomas B Hansen  1 , Jørgen Kjems  4   5
Affiliations
Review

The therapeutic potential of circular RNAs

Eoghan O'Leary et al. Nat Rev Genet. 2025 Apr.

Abstract

Over the past decade, research into circular RNA (circRNA) has increased rapidly, and over the past few years, circRNA has emerged as a promising therapeutic platform. The regulatory functions of circRNAs, including their roles in templating protein translation and regulating protein and RNA functions, as well as their unique characteristics, such as increased stability and a favourable immunological profile compared with mRNAs, make them attractive candidates for RNA-based therapies. Here, we describe the properties of circRNAs, their therapeutic potential and technologies for their synthesis. We also discuss the prospects and challenges to be overcome to unlock the full potential of circRNAs as drugs.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: E.O’L. and T.B.H. are employees of Circio AB, which is developing vector-based circular RNA therapeutics. The other authors declare no competing interests.

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