Circular RNAs in Intervertebral Disc Degeneration: An Updated Review

Derong Xu; Xuexiao Ma; Chong Sun; Jialuo Han; Chuanli Zhou; Sunny Hei Wong; Matthew T V Chan; William K K Wu

doi:10.3389/fmolb.2021.781424

Circular RNAs in Intervertebral Disc Degeneration: An Updated Review

Front Mol Biosci. 2022 Jan 6:8:781424. doi: 10.3389/fmolb.2021.781424. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Derong Xu¹, Xuexiao Ma¹, Chong Sun¹, Jialuo Han¹, Chuanli Zhou¹, Sunny Hei Wong², Matthew T V Chan³, William K K Wu^{3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Spine Surgery, The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, China.
² Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore.
³ Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care and Peter Hung Pain Research Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Digestive Diseases, LKS Institute of Health Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.

Abstract

Low back pain, a common medical condition, could result in severe disability and inflict huge economical and public health burden. Its pathogenesis is attributed to multiple etiological factors, including intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD). Emerging evidence suggests that circular RNAs (circRNAs), a major type of regulatory non-coding RNA, play critical roles in cellular processes that are pertinent to IDD development, including nucleus pulposus cell proliferation and apoptosis as well as extracellular matrix deposition. Increasing number of translational studies also indicated that circRNAs could serve as novel biomarkers for the diagnosis of IDD and/or predicting its clinical outcomes. Our review aims to discuss the recent progress in the functions and mechanisms of newly discovered IDD-related circRNAs.

Keywords: CircITCH; CircRNAs; intervertebral disc degeneration; lower back pain; ncRNAs.

Publication types

Review