Exosomal CircRNAs: A Future Star in Colorectal Cancer.

ABSTRACT

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is currently the third most common malignancy world-wide, with an increasing mortality rate and treatment resistance. Due to the lack of effective biomarkers and therapeutic targets, the early diagnosis and treatment of colorectal cancer re-main suboptimal. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a novel class of non-coding RNAs with co-valent closed-loop structures that are well stabilized and conserved and are involved in multi-ple pathological conditions in humans. CircRNAs have been identified to be enriched and sta-ble in exosomes. In addition, there is growing proof that exosomal circRNAs that have been identified as oncogenes or tumor suppressors regulate CRC growth, migration, and sensitivity to radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Exosomal circRNAs represent promising candidates as di-agnostic biomarkers and anti-tumor targets. In this article, we explore recent studies on exo-somal circRNAs in CRC and describe their biological functions in colorectal cancer develop-ment, illustrating their potential as biomarkers and targeted therapeutic capabilities.