Circular RNAs: pivotal role in the leukemogenesis and novel indicators for the diagnosis and prognosis of acute myeloid leukemia

Atefe Rahmati; Alireza Mafi; Firooze Soleymani; Zahra Babaei Aghdam; Niloufar Masihipour; Behrooz Ghezelbash; Reza Asemi; Michael Aschner; Omid Vakili; Mina Homayoonfal; Zatollah Asemi; Mehran Sharifi; Abbas Azadi; Hamed Mirzaei; Esmat Aghadavod

doi:10.3389/fonc.2023.1149187

Circular RNAs: pivotal role in the leukemogenesis and novel indicators for the diagnosis and prognosis of acute myeloid leukemia

Front Oncol. 2023 Apr 14:13:1149187. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2023.1149187. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Atefe Rahmati^{1

2}, Alireza Mafi³, Firooze Soleymani⁴, Zahra Babaei Aghdam⁵, Niloufar Masihipour⁶, Behrooz Ghezelbash⁷, Reza Asemi⁸, Michael Aschner⁹, Omid Vakili³, Mina Homayoonfal¹⁰, Zatollah Asemi¹⁰, Mehran Sharifi⁸, Abbas Azadi¹¹, Hamed Mirzaei¹⁰, Esmat Aghadavod^{10

12}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Hematology and Blood Banking, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
² Department of Basic Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Neyshabur University of Medical Sciences, Neyshabur, Iran.
³ Department of Clinical Biochemistry, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
⁴ Department of Medical Biotechnology and Nanotechnology, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
⁵ Imaging Sciences Research Group, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
⁶ Department of Medicine, Lorestan University of Medical Science, Lorestan, Iran.
⁷ Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
⁸ Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Cancer Prevention Research Center, Seyyed Al-Shohada Hospital, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
⁹ Department of Molecular Pharmacology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, United States.
¹⁰ Research Center for Biochemistry and Nutrition in Metabolic Diseases, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran.
¹¹ Department of Internal Medicine, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran.
¹² Department of Clinical Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran.

Abstract

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is an aggressive hematological malignancy and affected patients have poor overall survival (OS) rates. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a novel class of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) with a unique loop structure. In recent years, with the development of high-throughput RNA sequencing, many circRNAs have been identified exhibiting either up-regulation or down-regulation in AML patients compared with healthy controls. Recent studies have reported that circRNAs regulate leukemia cell proliferation, stemness, and apoptosis, both positively and negatively. Additionally, circRNAs could be promising biomarkers and therapeutic targets in AML. In this study, we present a comprehensive review of the regulatory roles and potentials of a number of dysregulated circRNAs in AML.

Keywords: acute myeloid leukemia; biomarker; circular RNA (circRNA); microRNA; targeted therapy.

Publication types

Review