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The Critical Roles of Circular RNAs in Basic Research and Clinical Application of Female Reproductive–Related Diseases

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Abstract

Circular RNAs (circRNAs), produced by precursor mRNAs, are a type of covalently closed circular molecule without 5′ caps and 3′ polyadenylated tails. Recently, advances in high-throughput sequencing, transcriptomics and bioinformatics, have revealed that circRNAs with specific traits in tissue or cells play emerging roles in both physiological and panthological contexts instead of as simple by-products of transcription. However, bringing circRNAs to the forefront of clinical practice is still a long way off. In this review, we highlight the progress in the formation and function of circRNAs, and how circRNAs work in female reproductive–related diseases, such as recurrent spontaneous abortion, preeclampsia, and endometriosis. We also discussed the clinical potential of circRNAs as biomarkers, and therapeutic agents in female reproductive diseases as well as research controversies, technical issues, and biological knowledge gaps that need to be addressed. This review may instruct future basic research and clinical applications on circRNAs, especially in female reproduction.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Professor Chen Lingling from the Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, SIBS, CAS, for helpful comments and revising the manuscript.

Funding

This work was supported by grant from the Nature Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (81630036, 91542116 and 31570920 to MRD), the Strategic Collaborative Research Program of the Ferring Institute of Reproductive Medicine Supported by Ferring Pharmaceuticals and Chinese Academy of Sciences (FIRMX200504 to MRD), the Innovation oriented Science and Technology Grant from NPFPC Key Laboratory of Reproduction Regulation (CX2017-2 to MRD), the Nature Science Foundation of Shanghai (21ZR1410500 to SCW), and the Shanghai Sailing Program (19YF1404100 to LYC).

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  1. Mengdie Li and Liyuan Cui contributed equally to this manuscript.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. NHC Key Lab of Reproduction Regulation, Laboratory for Reproductive Immunology, Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Shanghai Institute of Planned Parenthood Research), Fudan University Shanghai Medical College, ZhaoZhou Road 413, Shanghai, 200032, China

    Mengdie Li, LiYuan Cui, Songcun Wang & Meirong Du

  2. Department of Gynecology, Jing’an District Central Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

    Mengdie Li & Jianping Zhang

  3. Shanghai Key Laboratory of Female Reproductive Endocrine Related Diseases, Shanghai, China

    Meirong Du

  4. State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine and School of Pharmacy, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau SAR, China

    Meirong Du

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  1. Mengdie Li
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MDL, SCW, and LYC wrote the manuscript and drafted the figures, which were corrected and modified by JPZ and MRD. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Songcun Wang or Meirong Du.

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Li, M., Cui, L., Zhang, J. et al. The Critical Roles of Circular RNAs in Basic Research and Clinical Application of Female Reproductive–Related Diseases. Reprod. Sci. 30, 1421–1434 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43032-022-01070-2

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