Ferroptosis-associated circular RNAs: Opportunities and challenges in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer

Ruotong Yang; Liwei Ma; Junhu Wan; Zhuofang Li; Zhengwu Yang; Zhuochen Zhao; Liang Ming

doi:10.3389/fcell.2023.1160381

Ferroptosis-associated circular RNAs: Opportunities and challenges in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer

Front Cell Dev Biol. 2023 Apr 20:11:1160381. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2023.1160381. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Ruotong Yang^{1

2}, Liwei Ma^{1

2}, Junhu Wan^{1

2}, Zhuofang Li^{1

2}, Zhengwu Yang^{1

2}, Zhuochen Zhao^{1

2}, Liang Ming^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Clinical Laboratory, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China.
² Key Clinical Laboratory of Henan Province, Zhengzhou, China.

Abstract

Ferroptosis is an emerging form of non-apoptotic regulated cell death which is different from cell death mechanisms such as autophagy, apoptosis and necrosis. It is characterized by iron-dependent lipid peroxide accumulation. Circular RNA (circRNA) is a newly studied evolutionarily conserved type of non-coding RNA with a covalent closed-loop structure. It exhibits universality, conservatism, stability and particularity. At present, the functions that have been studied and found include microRNA sponge, protein scaffold, transcription regulation, translation and production of peptides, etc. CircRNA can be used as a biomarker of tumors and is a hotspot in RNA biology research. Studies have shown that ferroptosis can participate in tumor regulation through the circRNA molecular pathway and then affect cancer progression, which may become a direction of cancer diagnosis and treatment in the future. This paper reviews the molecular biological mechanism of ferroptosis and the role of circular RNA in tumors and summarizes the circRNA related to ferroptosis in tumors, which may inspire research prospects for the precise prevention and treatment of cancer in the future.

Keywords: biomarker; cancer; circular RNA; ferroptosis; signaling pathway.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

This study was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82172351), Medical Science and Technology Research Project of Henan Province (SBGJ202102131 and SBGJ202102139), Key scientific research project plan of colleges and universities in Henan Province (22A320074) and Natural Science Foundation of Henan Province (212300410395).