Insights into the regulatory role of circRNA in angiogenesis and clinical implications.

Abstract Angiogenesis is the physiological process of new blood vessel formation from existing capillary vessel or posterior capillary vein. Its dysfunction could result in a number of different kinds of diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases and cancer, contributing to death and disability worldwide. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a class of novel identified RNA molecules that have a special covalent loop structure without a 5′ cap and 3’ tail, which can form novel back-splicing or skipping events from precursor mRNAs. Accumulating evidence suggests that circRNA play critical roles in multifarious diseases; in particular, they are abundantly and abnormally expressed in angiogenesis-related diseases. In this review, we attempt to understand the roles of circRNA under pathological conditions, discuss the association between circRNA and angiogenesis, classify the various regulatory mechanisms and suggest that circRNA can be used as a potential therapeutic target for angiogenesis-related diseases under clinical evaluation.