Volume 25, No 8, Aug 2015
ISSN: 1001-0602
EISSN: 1748-7838 2018
impact factor 17.848*
(Clarivate Analytics, 2019)
Volume 25 Issue 8, August 2015: 981-984
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Circular RNA is enriched and stable in exosomes: a promising biomarker for cancer diagnosis
Yan Li1,*, Qiupeng Zheng1,2,*, Chunyang Bao1, Shuyi Li1,2, Weijie Guo2, Jiang Zhao1, Di Chen2, Jianren Gu2, Xianghuo He1,2 and Shenglin Huang1
1Department of Oncology, Shanghai Cancer Center and Institutes of Biomedical Sciences, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University; Shanghai 200032, China
2State Key Laboratory of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200032, China
Correspondence: Shenglin Huang, Tel: +86-21-3477-7580; Fax: +86-21-6417-2585 E-mail: slhuang@fudan.edu.cn; Xianghuo He,(xhhe@fudan.edu.cn)
Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are recently identified as a naturally occurring family of widespread and diverse endogenous noncoding RNAs that may regulate gene expression in mammals1,2,3,4. They are unusually stable RNA molecules with cell type- or developmental stage-specific expression patterns3,5. Exosomes are small membrane vesicles of endocytic origin secreted by most cell types. They contain a specific cargo of protein, mRNA and microRNA species, which can modulate recipient cell behaviors and may be used as biomarkers for diagnosis of human diseases6. Here, we show for the first time the presence of abundant circRNAs in exosomes. RNA-seq analyses revealed that circRNAs were enriched in exosomes compared to the producer cells. Furthermore, the sorting of circRNAs to exosomes may be regulated by changes of associated miRNA levels in producer cells, and may transfer biological activity to recipient cells. Additionally, more than 1 000 circRNAs were identified in human serum exosomes. circRNAs originated from human cancer xenografts could enter the circulation and be readily measured in the serum. Intriguingly, serum exosomal circRNAs were able to distinguish patients with colon cancer from healthy controls. Our results lay the foundation for development of circRNAs as a new class of exosome-based cancer biomarkers and suggest the potential biological function of exosomal circRNAs.
10.1038/cr.2015.82
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