Competing Endogenous RNA Networks in Glioma

Liang Cen; Ruochen Liu; Wei Liu; Qianqian Li; Hongjuan Cui

doi:10.3389/fgene.2021.675498

Competing Endogenous RNA Networks in Glioma

Front Genet. 2021 Apr 29:12:675498. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2021.675498. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Liang Cen^{1

2}, Ruochen Liu^{1

2}, Wei Liu^{1

2}, Qianqian Li³, Hongjuan Cui^{1

2

4}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Silkworm Genome Biology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
² Cancer Center, Medical Research Institute, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
³ Department of Psychology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.
⁴ Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Child Development and Disorders, Department of Neurosurgery, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health and Disorders, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.

Abstract

Gliomas are the most common and malignant primary brain tumors. Various hallmarks of glioma, including sustained proliferation, migration, invasion, heterogeneity, radio- and chemo-resistance, contribute to the dismal prognosis of patients with high-grade glioma. Dysregulation of cancer driver genes is a leading cause for these glioma hallmarks. In recent years, a new mechanism of post-transcriptional gene regulation was proposed, i.e., "competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA)." Long non-coding RNAs, circular RNAs, and transcribed pseudogenes act as ceRNAs to regulate the expression of related genes by sponging the shared microRNAs. Moreover, coding RNA can also exert a regulatory role, independent of its protein coding function, through the ceRNA mechanism. In the latest glioma research, various studies have reported that dysregulation of certain ceRNA regulatory networks (ceRNETs) accounts for the abnormal expression of cancer driver genes and the establishment of glioma hallmarks. These achievements open up new avenues to better understand the hidden aspects of gliomas and provide new biomarkers and potential efficient targets for glioma treatment. In this review, we summarize the existing knowledge about the concept and logic of ceRNET and highlight the emerging roles of some recently found ceRNETs in glioma progression.

Keywords: cancer driver dysregulation; ceRNA; ceRNET; glioblastoma; glioma; ncRNA.

Publication types

Review