REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Immunological Tolerance and Regulation
Circular RNAs in Sepsis-Induced Acute Lung Injury: Emerging Mechanisms and Therapeutic Potential
Provisionally accepted
Qinghai Liu1Yiyan Wang1
Haitang Liao1Dongsheng Ren1Wenhui Guo1Jianzhong Xu1
Chenyang Duan2*Zhenchun Luo1Wen Jiang1- 1Chongqing City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chongqing, China
- 2Second Affiliated Hospital, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China
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Sepsis-induced acute lung injury (ALI) remains a leading cause of mortality in critically ill patients and is characterized by dysregulated inflammation, immune imbalance, and alveolar–capillary barrier dysfunction. Emerging evidence suggests that circular RNAs (circRNAs), a class of stable and highly conserved non-coding RNAs, play important regulatory roles in inflammatory diseases; however, their contributions to sepsis-associated lung injury have not yet been systematically summarized. In this review, we provide a comprehensive overview of circRNA biogenesis, classification, and regulatory properties, with a particular focus on their context-dependent functions in the septic lung. We discuss how circRNAs participate in the coordination of cell fate decisions, immune responses, and barrier integrity during sepsis, and highlight their potential as diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets. Importantly, we also address current technical and translational challenges, including detection specificity, disease heterogeneity, and limited clinical validation. By integrating mechanistic insights with translational perspectives, this review aims to clarify the emerging role of circRNAs in sepsis-induced ALI and to outline key directions for future research.
Keywords: biomarkers, circular RNAs, Immunologicalregulation, programmed cell death, Sepsis-Induced Acute Lung Injury
Received: 03 Oct 2025; Accepted: 02 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Liu, Wang, Liao, Ren, Guo, Xu, Duan, Luo and Jiang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Chenyang Duan
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