Circular RNA in cardiovascular disease

Although laudable approaches have been developed to improve the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease (CVD), they are still far from satisfactory. Thus, there is an increasing need for novel diagnostic biomarkers and new therapeutic interventions to efficiently decrease the morbidity and mortality of CVD. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) as a class of newly discovered endogenous noncoding RNAs, have been implicated in the development of CVD by multiple mechanisms including sponge-like regulation of microRNAs and proteins, indicating that circRNAs are promising therapy targets and potential biomarkers for CVD. In this review, we characterize the biogenesis and expression of circRNA, highlight the regulatory role of circRNA in different models of CVD. We also present perspectives of circRNAs as novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets for the treatment of CVD.