微RNA与肺癌

微RNA（miRNA）是一类约22nt的小分子非编码RNA,在转录后水平调控蛋白质的表达。大部分微RNA在基因组上定位于与肿瘤相关的脆性位点上,与肿瘤的发生、发展关系密切。在肺癌组织中,某些微RNA表达水平升高,而某些表达下降,它们充当＂癌基因＂或者＂抑癌基因＂的角色,可能在肺癌的诊断、治疗及预后监测中发挥重要作用。     

N-myc 蛋白和非编码RNA在神经母细胞瘤中的研究进展

神经母细胞瘤是儿童外周神经系统的肿瘤。在近20%的神经母细胞瘤病例中发现有原癌基因MYCN的扩增和过表达现 象。近几年发现MYCN基因编码的N-myc 蛋白,不仅能够调控多种非编码RNA 的表达,而且也受非编码RNA的调控。miRNA 是在神经母细胞瘤中研究最广泛的非编码RNA,近年来研究发现N-myc 蛋白对于绝大部分miRNA 起抑制作用,如mir-184、 mir-542-5p 等,仅对少数miRNA起诱导表达的作用,如mir-17-92 基因簇、mir-9、mir-421 等。N-myc 蛋白不仅对miRNA 的表达起 调节作用,而且也调控其它lncRNA 的表达,如T-UCR、NDM29、linc00467、MALAT1。有趣的是,N-myc 蛋白和miRNA 之间的作 用是相互的,它们可以双向调节,其调控网络也是复杂的。miRNA 能够靶向MYCN,同时MYCN也能够调控miRNA。该文对神 经母细胞瘤中N-myc蛋白和非编码RNA 间的相互影响,以及两者之间的关系对神经母细胞瘤的发生有何作用作一综述。     

微 RNA 研究进展

近年来,相继发现一些具有调控功能的非编码微RNA,长度约22nt,与基因,细胞周期乃至个体发育过程密切相关,可能对基因功能研究,人类疾病防治及生物进化探索有重要意义。     

非编码RNA在抑郁症中的研究进展

抑郁症是威胁人类健康的全球第二大常见疾病,目前仍缺乏客观的诊断、治疗指标,同时发病机制尚不清晰。非编码RNA包括微小RNA、环状RNA及长链非编码RNA,其异常表达会影响人类多种疾病的进展。近年来,越来越多的证据表明,非编码RNA在抑郁症发展过程中发挥着重要作用,且其功能与机制得到了初步验证,可能成为抑郁症的潜在诊断和治疗靶点。本文归纳总结了上述三种非编码RNA在抑郁症中的表达特征、生物学功能及临床意义。     

非编码RNA在肿瘤液体活检中的研究进展

液体活检是一种基于分析体液样本中的生物标志物来诊断疾病、监测疾病进展和评估疗效的非侵入性的新型微创诊断技术。液体活检主要包括探查和检测循环肿瘤细胞、ctDNA、非编码RNAs和细胞外囊泡等。非编码RNA之前被认为是一类无功能的RNA,但近年来研究表明它们在肿瘤的发病机制中扮演着重要的角色。它们构成了基因调控的一个重要层面,其表达水平在多种癌种中呈现失调势态,这提示了它们作为肿瘤生物学标志物的临床应用潜力。飞速发展的高通量测序技术使得在泛癌领域建立非编码RNA表达谱的分子表征成为可能。该文系统阐述了非编码RNA作为非侵入性肿瘤标志物的研究进展,评估了其作为肿瘤生物标志物的适用性,同时总结了近期的检测技术突破对肿瘤分子标志物发展的影响。     

哺乳动物中作用于非编码RNA的RNA编辑研究进展

RNA编辑是RNA转录过程中序列变化而引起的一种基因动态调控机制。腺苷脱氨酶（adenosine deaminases acting on RNA, ADAR）参与RNA编辑,将双链RNA中腺苷残基（A）转化为肌苷（I）,接着被转录和拼接成鸟苷（G）。由ADAR催化,作用于RNA的A-I型RNA编辑是人类最常见的转录后修饰。近年来,这种修饰不仅存在于编码RNA中,在非编码RNA（noncoding RNA, ncRNA）中也逐渐被发现,如microRNA（miRNA）、小分子干扰RNA（siRNA）、转运RNA（tRNA）和长链非编码RNA（lncRNA）。这种修饰可能通过对microRNA和mRNA之间结合位点创造或破坏,进而影响ncRNA的生物起源、稳定性和靶向识别功能。目前,对这种生物现象的机制及ADAR底物,尤其是在ncRNA中的特性仍然没有得到充分的认识。主要对哺乳动物中ncRNA上的RNA编辑进行总结,并列举一些阐明其生物学功能的计算方法。     

环状RNA的生物特征及其在植物中的研究进展

环状RNA(circular RNA,circRNA)是真核细胞中广泛存在的一类由3′末端和5′末端共价结合形成的环状非编码RNA(non-coding RNA,ncRNA)。越来越多的研究表明,circRNA具有种类丰富、结构稳定、序列保守以及细胞或组织特异性表达等特点。circRNA具有很多潜在的功能,例如作为天然小RNA(microRNA,miRNA)海绵体吸附并调控miRNA的活性,与转录调控元件结合或与蛋白互作调控基因的转录等。目前关于circRNA的研究多集中在动物和人体中,在植物中的研究还较少,仅在水稻(Oryza sativa)、拟南芥(Arabidopsis thaliana)、小麦(Triticum aestivum)、猕猴桃(Actinidia chinensis)、番茄(Solanum lycopersicum)和大豆(Glycine max)等中鉴定到了circRNA的存在,并且其作用机理尚不清楚。该文主要针对circRNA的分类、形成机制、分子特征、相关研究方法以及在植物中的主要研究进展进行综述,并对目前植物circRNA研究中存在的问题进行了分析总结。     

环状RNA在慢性病发病中作用机制的研究进展

环状RNA作为一种对基因表达进行精细调节的重要非编码RNA,不仅增加了非编码RNA介导的基因调控网络的复杂度,也加深了疾病发病机制研究的深度。虽然近年来环状RNA的功能研究有了长足的进步,确定了其作为ceRNA能够特异性吸附miRNA,解除相应miRNA对下游靶mRNA的抑制作用,此类研究也表明核外环状RNA介导的凋亡活化,增殖抑制和细胞与细胞间的交流在疾病发生发展过程中是至关重要的,但我们对环状RNA的了解还只是冰山一角,特别是病理状态下其作用的具体机制仍然需要我们不断探索。在此,本综述的主要目的是回顾目前关于环状RNA在心血管疾病、中枢神经系统疾病和癌症等慢性病领域的研究,探讨以上慢性病发病过程中环状RNA所起的作用以及展望未来环状RNA在疾病发病机制领域的研究。     

环形RNA分子揭秘

环形RNA分子是一类不具有5'末端帽子和3'末端poly(A)尾巴、并以共价键形成环形结构的非编码RNA分子。利用针对环形结构RNA分子的实验和计算方法,并结合新一代高通量测序,现已在多种细胞内发现了大量环形RNA分子的稳定存在。目前,尽管环形RNA分子的产生机制及其代谢仍然不清楚,但是已有的研究表明环形RNA分子具有调控基因表达的功能。对环形RNA分子的产生机制和功能等的进一步研究,将为人们深入理解生命活动在转录水平的复杂性调控提供重要的分子基础和研究依据。     

微小RNA研究进展

MicroRNAs(miRNAs)是一类长度为21-23核苷酸(nt)、进化上比较保守的非编码蛋白质的单链小RNA分子,它们一般通过Dicer酶从具有发夹二级结构的前体RNA加工而来。在真核生物的发育、基因表达等一系列过程中发挥了重要作用。     

环RNA研究概况

在1976年就已经发现RNA可以具有环形形式。但是长期以来对环形RNA(circRNAs)主要是作为一些特例加以研究。随着高通量RNA测序技术以及生物信息学的发展,近几年的研究发现circRNAs在真核生物中普遍存在,并且具有一定的保守性和细胞特异性。越来越多的证据指明circRNAs不是剪切噪音,而是具有一定生物学功能,可能与一系列调控甚至疾病的发生和发展相关。     

CIRCexplorer3:A CLEAR Pipeline for Direct Comparison of Circular and Linear RNA Expression

Sequences of circular RNAs(circ RNAs) produced from back-splicing of exon(s) completely overlap with those from cognate linear RNAs transcribed from the same gene loci with the exception of their back-splicing junction(BSJ) sites.Therefore,examination of global circ RNA expression from RNA-seq datasets generally relies on the detection of RNA-seq fragments spanning BSJ sites,which is different from the quantification of linear RNA expression by normalized RNA-seq fragments mapped to whole gene bodies.Thus,direct comparison of circular and linear RNA expression from the same gene loci in a genome-wide manner has remained challenging.Here,we update the previously-reported CIRCexplorer pipeline to version 3 for circular and linear RNA expression analysis from ribosomal-RNA depleted RNA-seq(CIRCexplorer3-CLEAR).A new quantitation parameter,fragments per billion mapped bases(FPB),is applied to evaluate circular and linear RNA expression individually by fragments mapped to circ RNA-specific BSJ sites or to linear RNA-specific splicing junction(SJ) sites.Comparison of circular and linear RNA expression levels is directly achieved by dividing FPBcircby FPBlinearto generate a CIRCscore,which indicates the relative circ RNA expression level using linear RNA expression level as the background.Highlyexpressed circ RNAs with low cognate linear RNA expression background can be readily identified by CIRCexplorer3-CLEAR for further investigation.CIRCexplorer3-CLEAR is publically available at https://github.com/Yang Lab/CLEAR.     

植物RNA沉默机制的研究进展

RNA沉默是真核生物中普遍存在的抵抗病毒复制表达、抑制转座子转座及调控基因表达的监控机制。植物中的RNA沉默(转录水平的基因沉默PTGS)在RdRP的作用、transitive RNAi的双向延伸、沉默效应的系统性传播等方面与动物中有所不同,且植物中的内源性miRNA在数量和种类上也更具多样性。文中就以上方面及RNA沉默在植物中的应用进行了综述。     

特定环状RNA表达与衰老的关系研究*

目的:研究小鼠不同组织器官中环状RNA的表达量在年老与年幼中的差异,揭示环状RNA与衰老的联系。方法:通过对不同组织器官的总RNA的提取,分别逆转录,并扩增circUSP34、circTCF4、circTCF20、circZFP64、circPWWP2A、circLIN54,通过凝胶电泳比较其在年轻小鼠与年老小鼠的组织器官中的表达情况,明确上述环状RNA与衰老的联系。结果:环状RNA在不同年龄小鼠的组织器官中存在广泛性的差异性表达,不同组织不同环状RNA有着不同的表达量的改变,其与衰老存在联系。在卵巢中除circTCF4,其余五种环状RNA表达量均与年龄负相关;在肾脏中,除circTCF4与circPWWP2A,其余与年龄呈负相关;在乳腺中只有circUSP3与衰老呈负相关;而在肠道与生长相关的只有上述后三种环状RNA,均呈正相关。其他样本与组织的发育阶段有不同的相关性,具体在结果体现。结论:环状RNA的表达量在组织中与年龄的增大有着显著相关性,环状RNA可能广泛地参与了不同的衰老通路,起到不同的生物学作用,其在衰老的产生中扮演重要角色。     

环状RNA及其作为疾病标志物的潜能

环状RNA（circular RNA, circRNA）是一种共价闭合环状结构的内源性非编码RNA分子,不具有5′端帽子和3′端poly(A)尾巴结构,具有广泛性、保守性、组织特异性以及稳定性等特性;根据序列来源的不同可分为3种类型：外显子circRNA、内含子circRNA、外显子-内含子circRNA;随着生物信息学的快速发展和高通量测序技术的不断革新,目前已经在真核细胞中发现大量内源性circRNA,主要分布于细胞质中,其独特的序列结构,使它具有microRNA海绵、调节选择性剪接或转录、与RNA结合蛋白结合、滚动翻译和衍生假基因等功能;它参与癌症、糖尿病、神经系统疾病和动脉粥样硬化等疾病发生、发展过程。众多研究显示circRNA会成为新型的疾病临床诊断标志物或人类疾病治疗的潜在靶点,该评述较为详细地从circRNA的形成、特性、生物学功能、研究方法、研究数据库以及和疾病的关系等方面来阐述circRNA的最新研究进展,方便研究人员进行circRNA研究。     

CIRCpedia v2: An Updated Database for Comprehensive Circular RNA Annotation and Expression Comparison

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) from back-splicing of exon(s) have been recently identified to be broadly expressed in eukaryotes, in tissue- and species-specific manners. Although functions of most circRNAs remain elusive, some circRNAs are shown to be functional in gene expression regulation and potentially relate to diseases. Due to their stability, circRNAs can also be used as biomarkers for diagnosis. Profiling circRNAs by integrating their expression among different samples thus provides molecular basis for further functional study of circRNAs and their potential application in clinic. Here, we report CIRCpedia v2, an updated database for comprehensive circRNA annotation from over 180 RNA-seq datasets across six different species. This atlas allows users to search, browse, and download circRNAs with expression features in various cell types/tissues, including disease samples. In addition, the updated database incorporates conservation analysis of circRNAs between humans and mice. Finally, the web interface also contains computational tools to compare circRNA expression among samples. CIRCpedia v2 is accessible at http://www.picb.ac.cn/rnomics/circpedia.     

Circular RNA hsa_circ_0001564 regulates osteosarcoma proliferation and apoptosis by acting miRNA sponge

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) is a novel type of non-coding RNAs generated from back splicing, which has been verified to mediate multiple tumorigenesis. However, the role of circRNA in osteosarcoma is still unclear. In the present study, we preliminarily screened the circRNAs expression profiles in osteosarcoma and investigated the potential regulation mechanism. The circRNAs expression profiles in osteosarcoma were screened using circRNA microarray analysis, and results showed that there were 1152 circRNAs up-regulated and 915 circRNAs down-regulated in tumor tissue compared to adjacent tissue. Hsa_circ_0001564, located at 5q35.3 and its associated-gene symbol is CANX, was one of the significantly overexpressed circRNAs in osteosarcoma tissue, as well as in osteosarcoma cell lines. In functional experiments, hsa_circ_001564 knockdown significantly suppressed the proliferation activity, induced cell cycle arrest in G0/G1 phase, and promoted apoptosis in HOS and MG-63 cells. Subsequently, we explored the probable mechanism of hsa_circ_001564, and fortunately, bioinformatics analysis revealed that miR-29c-3p contained the complementary binding region with hsa_circ_0001564, which was confirmed by dual-luciferase reporter assay. Moreover, rescue experiments illustrated that miR-29c-3p could reverse the oncogenesis effect of hsa_circ_001564. Our study discovers that hsa_circ_0001564 acts as miR-29c-3p sponge to mediate the tumorigenicity, which could act as a potential biomarker for the osteosarcoma and provide a novel insight for competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs) mechanism in osteosarcoma.     

Circular RNA circMTO1 suppresses bladder cancer metastasis by sponging miR-221 and inhibiting epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition

Bladder cancer remains a leading cause of cancer-related death because of its distant metastasis and high recurrence rates. Deregulation of circular RNAs (circRNAs) can act either as tumor suppressors or oncogenes to control cell proliferation, migration, and metastasis. The role of circMTO1 in bladder cancer remain unknown. In this study, we investigated whether circMTO1 could use as a biomarker and therapeutic target for bladder cancer treatment. We first demonstrated that circMTO1 was an important circRNA frequently downregulated in bladder cancer tissue, and lower circMTO1 levels were positively correlated with bladder cancer patients' metastasis and poorer survival. Ectopic expression of circMTO1 in bladder cancer cells inhibited cell's epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and metastasis. In addition, we also revealed that circMTO1 was able to sponge miR-221 and overexpression of circMTO1 negatively regulated the E-cadherin/N-cadherin pathway to inhibit bladder cancer cells' EMT by competing for miR-221. In conclusion, our findings provide comprehensive evidences that circMTO1 is a prognostic biomarker in bladder cancer and suggest that circMTO1 may function as a novel therapeutic target in human bladder cancer.