• Mechanisms and prospects of circular RNAs and their interacting signaling pathways in colorectal cancer
  • Mahsa Alem,1 Zahra salajegheh,2 Mustafa Ramezanian,3 Saeedeh Hadinejad,4 Mobina Ebrahimi,5 Zeinab Sadat Jalali,6,*
    1. Urmia University, Department of Pathobiology
    2. Msc in Medical Surgical Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Kerman university medical science, Kerman, Iran.
    3. Tehran University of Medical School
    4. Bachelor of Midwifery Azad University of Gachsaran, Iran
    5. Tehran university of medical sciences, Tehran,Iran
    6. Student research committee, Jahrom university of Medical Sciences, Jahrom, Iran


  • Introduction: Colorectal cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors of the gastrointestinal tract. Colorectal cancer factors and their molecular mechanisms are an important part of diagnosis and treatment. Based on the collected evidence and information, circular RNA can be used as a biomarker for tumor confirmation. Therefore, our aim in this study is to investigate the mechanisms of circular RNAs and their signaling pathways in colorectal cancer.
  • Methods: For this research, existing articles in PubMed, Web of Science, Sid, and Google Scholar databases that have been published till 2022 are systematically selected, and 17 articles are included in this study. This research is done in English considering the following keywords: Colorectal cancer, circular RNA, Mechanisms
  • Results: Since there is a significant decrease in the 5-year survival rate of CRC, it is very important to find some effective and available biomarkers that help early detection and treatment of CRC. Studies show that circular RNA molecules such as circ_3823, and circ-MYH9 can be used as biomarkers in colorectal cancer. Each of these may contribute to prognosis in CRC patients or even be a factor in treatment methods.
  • Conclusion: The multifactorial CRC has the multiplex step and stag that the accurate and detailed pathogenic mechanism is not obvious. The various physiological and pathophysiological processes as biological functions of circular RNAs (a new class of ncRNAs) included aberrantly expression in CRC and associating with the prognosis and the pathological trait of CRC. Hereupon circular RNA is used as a different biomarker in colorectal cancer, but more studies are still needed.
  • Keywords: Circular RNAs, signaling pathways, colorectal cancer