Related Experiment Video

Updated: Oct 22, 2025

Use of Alu Element Containing Minigenes to Analyze Circular RNAs
13:10

Use of Alu Element Containing Minigenes to Analyze Circular RNAs

Published on: March 10, 2020

7.5K

Mechanisms Regulating Abnormal Circular RNA Biogenesis in Cancer

Ying Huang1, Qubo Zhu1

  • 1Xiangya School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Central South University, Changsha 410013, China.

Cancers
|August 27, 2021
PubMed

Insights

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are crucial in gene regulation and cancer. This review explores how changes in regulatory elements during tumor development disrupt circRNA biogenesis and expression in cancer.

Area of Science:

  • Molecular Biology
  • Epigenetics
  • Cancer Research

Background:

  • Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are endogenous RNA molecules with a closed-loop structure.
  • circRNAs play significant roles in epigenetic gene regulation at transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels.
  • Aberrant circRNA expression is linked to cancer development and metastasis.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review circRNA biogenesis pathways.
  • To investigate the mechanisms of circRNA dysregulation in cancer.
  • To explore the role of cis-regulatory elements and trans-acting proteins in aberrant circRNA splicing and maturation during tumorigenesis.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review of circRNA biogenesis.
  • Analysis of studies on circRNA expression in tumors.
  • Discussion of regulatory elements and proteins involved in circRNA production.

Main Results:

  • circRNAs are generated via a back-splicing mechanism.
  • Tumorigenesis involves alterations in cis-regulatory elements and trans-acting proteins.
  • These changes lead to the dysregulation of circRNA splicing and maturation in cancer.

Conclusions:

  • Understanding circRNA dysregulation mechanisms is key to cancer research.
  • Altered cis-regulatory elements and trans-acting proteins contribute to aberrant circRNA expression in cancer.
  • Further research into these mechanisms may reveal novel cancer therapeutic targets.
Keywords:
biogenesiscircular RNAs (circRNAs)cis-regulatory elementstrans-acting proteins

More Related Videos

Identification of Circular RNAs using RNA Sequencing08:25

Identification of Circular RNAs using RNA Sequencing

Published on: November 14, 2019

12.4K
In Silico Identification and Characterization of circRNAs During Host-Pathogen Interactions10:27

In Silico Identification and Characterization of circRNAs During Host-Pathogen Interactions

Published on: October 21, 2022

1.7K

Related Concept Videos

Nuclear Export of mRNA02:31

Nuclear Export of mRNA

Before mRNAs are exported to the cytoplasm, it is crucial to check each mRNA for structural and functional integrity. Eukaryotic cells use several different mechanisms, collectively known as mRNA surveillance, to look for irregularities in mRNAs. Irregular or aberrant mRNA are rapidly degraded by various enzymes. If a defective mRNA escapes the surveillance, it would be translated into a protein which would either be non-functional or not function properly. One of the primary irregularities in...
8.0K
MicroRNAs01:22

MicroRNAs

MicroRNA (miRNA) are short, regulatory RNA transcribed from introns (non-coding regions of a gene) or intergenic regions (stretches of DNA present between genes). Several processing steps are required to form biologically active, mature miRNA. The initial transcript, called primary miRNA (pri-mRNA), base-pairs with itself, forming a stem-loop structure. Within the nucleus, an endonuclease enzyme, called Drosha, shortens the stem-loop structure into hairpin-shaped pre-miRNA. After the pre-miRNA...
3.3K
Experimental RNAi02:15

Experimental RNAi

RNA interference (RNAi) is a cellular mechanism that inhibits gene expression by suppressing its transcription or activating the RNA degradation process. The mechanism was discovered by Andrew Fire and Craig Mello in 1998 in plants. Today, it is observed in almost all eukaryotes, including protozoa, flies, nematodes, insects, parasites, and mammals. This precise cellular mechanism of gene silencing has been developed into a technique that provides an efficient way to identify and determine the...
6.5K
Regulation of Expression Occurs at Multiple Steps02:24

Regulation of Expression Occurs at Multiple Steps

Gene expression can be regulated at almost every step from gene to protein. Transcription is the step that is most commonly regulated. This involves the binding of proteins to short regulatory sequences on the DNA. This association can either promote or inhibit the transcription of a gene associated with the respective sequence.
Transcription results in the generation of precursor (pre-mRNA) that consists of both exons and introns, which needs further processing before being translated to a...
23.9K
The Nucleolus02:55

The Nucleolus

The nucleolus is the most prominent substructure of the nucleus. When it was first discovered, it was considered to be an isolated organelle that forms fibrils and granules. In 1931, the relationship between the nucleolus and chromosomes was first described by Heitz. He observed that the appearance and size of nucleolus varies depending on the stage of the cell cycle. He also noticed constricted regions on different chromosomes clustered together at definite cell cycle stages. These regions,...
9.5K
Chromatin Structure Regulates pre-mRNA Processing02:41

Chromatin Structure Regulates pre-mRNA Processing

In eukaryotic cells, nascent mRNA transcripts need to undergo many post-transcriptional modifications to reach the cell cytoplasm and translate into functional proteins. For a long time, transcription and pre-mRNA processing were considered two independent events that occur sequentially in the cell. However, it has now been well established that transcription and pre-mRNA processing are two simultaneous processes that are precisely regulated inside the cell.
The chromatin structure, especially...
7.5K