Abstract
Circular RNA (circRNA) is a covalently closed RNA structure that has several proposed functions related to cancer development. Recently, cancer-specific and tissue-specific circRNAs have been identified by high throughput sequencing and are curated in publicly available databases. CircRNAs have features that are ideal properties of biomarkers, including conservation, abundance, and stability in plasma, saliva, and urine. Many circRNAs with predictive and prognostic significance in cancer have been described, and functional mechanisms for some circRNAs have been suggested. CircRNA also has great potential as a non-invasive biomarker for early cancer detection, although further investigation is necessary before clinical application is feasible.
- Received July 6, 2020.
- Revision received August 24, 2020.
- Accepted October 12, 2020.
- Copyright ©2020, American Association for Cancer Research.
This OnlineFirst version was published on October 15, 2020
doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-20-0796
