Research Progress of CircRNA in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma
ZHANG Yangfan1, HUANG Xinyi2, CHEN Chuanben2*
NPC (nasopharyngeal carcinoma), an important member of head and neck carcinoma with an unbalanced geographical distribution that is prevalent in East Africa and Asia, especially in South China. According to the IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer), there were about 129 000 new cases and 73 000 deaths of NPC in 2018. Since the specificity of early diagnosis in patients is not obvious, most NPC patients were in advanced stages at the first diagnosis. Therefore, it is urgent to do in-depth research on the pathogenesis of NPC and find effective diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers, thus to provide better treatments. With the continuous development of full transcriptome sequencing technology, circRNAs have gradually become the focus of tumor research. Most circRNAs can bind miRNAs competitively, regulating the expression of downstream target genes, and play important roles in cancer development. Compared with linear RNAs, circRNAs are more stable, making them become possible biomarkers for the early diagnosis and prognosis of NPC. This paper summarized the research status of circRNAs in NPC, and discussed the influence of circRNAs on the phenotypes of NPC cells, such as proliferation, metastasis and invasion, as well as might provide theoretical basis for the diagnosis, targeted therapy and prognosis of NPC.
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