Circular RNAs Regulate Glucose Metabolism in Cancer Cells

Xiaoyu Ji; Wei Sun; Chengzhou Lv; Jiapeng Huang; Hao Zhang

doi:10.2147/OTT.S316597

Circular RNAs Regulate Glucose Metabolism in Cancer Cells

Onco Targets Ther. 2021 Jul 2:14:4005-4021. doi: 10.2147/OTT.S316597. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Xiaoyu Ji¹, Wei Sun¹, Chengzhou Lv¹, Jiapeng Huang¹, Hao Zhang¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Thyroid Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning, 110001, People's Republic of China.

Abstract

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) were originally thought to result from RNA splicing errors. However, it has been shown that circRNAs can regulate cancer onset and progression in various ways. They can regulate cancer cell proliferation, differentiation, invasion, and metastasis. Moreover, they modulate glucose metabolism in cancer cells through different mechanisms such as directly regulating glycolytic enzymes and glucose transporter (GLUT) or indirectly regulating signal transduction pathways. In this review, we elucidate on the role of circRNAs in regulating glucose metabolism in cancer cells, which partly explains the pathogenesis of malignant tumors, and provides new therapeutic targets or new diagnostic and prognostic markers for human cancers.

Keywords: Warburg effect; circRNAs; glucose metabolism; signaling pathway; targeted therapy.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

This study was financially supported by: The National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 81902726); The Project funded by China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (grant number 2018M641739); and Natural Science Foundation of Liaoning Province (grant number 20180530090).