The role of circRNAs in regulation of drug resistance in ovarian cancer

Jun Zhan; Zhiyi Li; Changsheng Lin; Dingding Wang; Lei Yu; Xue Xiao

doi:10.3389/fgene.2023.1320185

The role of circRNAs in regulation of drug resistance in ovarian cancer

Front Genet. 2023 Dec 13:14:1320185. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2023.1320185. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Jun Zhan^{1

2}, Zhiyi Li^{1

2}, Changsheng Lin^{1

2}, Dingding Wang^{1

2}, Lei Yu^{1

2}, Xue Xiao^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
² Key Laboratory of Birth Defects and Related Diseases of Women and Children, Ministry of Education, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.

Abstract

Ovarian cancer is one of the female reproductive system tumors. Chemotherapy is used for advanced ovarian cancer patients; however, drug resistance is a pivotal cause of chemotherapeutic failure. Hence, it is critical to explore the molecular mechanisms of drug resistance of ovarian cancer cells and to ameliorate chemoresistance. Noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) have been identified to critically participate in drug sensitivity in a variety of human cancers, including ovarian cancer. Among ncRNAs, circRNAs sponge miRNAs and prevent miRNAs from regulation of their target mRNAs. CircRNAs can interact with DNA or proteins to modulate gene expression. In this review, we briefly describe the biological functions of circRNAs in the development and progression of ovarian cancer. Moreover, we discuss the underneath regulatory molecular mechanisms of circRNAs on governing drug resistance in ovarian cancer. Furthermore, we mention the novel strategies to overcome drug resistance via targeting circRNAs in ovarian cancer. Due to that circRNAs play a key role in modulation of drug resistance in ovarian cancer, targeting circRNAs could be a novel approach for attenuation of chemoresistance in ovarian cancer.

Keywords: chemotherapy; circRNA; drug; miRNA; ovarian cancer; resistance.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by China’s national key research and development program (Grant Number: 2022YFC3600304).