Research Progress of circRNAs in Inflammatory Mechanisms of Diabetic Retinopathy: An Emerging Star with Potential Therapeutic Targets

ABSTRACT

Purpose: We summarized the existing studies to elaborate the biogenesis and function of circRNAs, the effect of aberrant circRNAs expression in the mechanism of inflammation and diabetic retinopathy (DR) respectively and further explored the vital roles of circRNAs in inflammation involved in DR. Methods: We conducted a systematical literature search of abundant electronic databases (PubMed, GeneMedical and MEDLINE) up to August 2021. Results: In this review, we exhibited the biogenesis and function of circRNAs and highlighted the components of inflammatory mediators implicated in DR. Numerous circRNAs, such as circHIPK3, circZNF609, circRNA_0084043, circ_0002570, circ_0041795, circEhmt1 and circ-ITCH were discovered to play vital roles in inflammation involved in DR, which provided new ideas for diagnosis and treatment of DR. Moreover, we proposed not only the epigenetic functions of circRNAs but also novel forms of the inflammatory response, including pyroptosis, to inspire further exploration and creative research in this field. Conclusion: CircRNAs were implicated in the progression and development of inflammation in DR via aberrant expression and modulation of gene expression, serving as an emerging star with potential therapeutic targets.

KEYWORDS:

• Diabetic retinopathy
• circRNAs
• inflammation
• epigenetic functions
• pyroptosis

Authors’ contribution

All authors contributed significantly to this work. SH was participated in all aspects of this research involving data analysis, article design and paper writing. TS and CG retrieved the literature and revised the manuscript. QQ contributed to the article design, supervision of the research, data analyses and revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Available of data and materials

All data generated or analyzed in this study are included in this article.

Consent for publication

The manuscript is approved by all authors for publication.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary materials

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s website.

Additional information

Funding

This work has been supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [81970811], Domestic Science and Technology Cooperation Project of Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission [21015800700] and National Key R&D Program of China [2019YFC0840607].