AUTHOR=Tang Ying , Jiang Mei , Jiang Hai-Mei , Ye Zeng Jie , Huang Yu-Sheng , Li Xiu-Shen , Qin Bin-Yu , Zhou Rui-Sheng , Pan Hua-Feng , Zheng Da-Yong 

TITLE=The Roles of circRNAs in Liver Cancer Immunity

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Oncology

VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2020

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/oncology/articles/10.3389/fonc.2020.598464

DOI=10.3389/fonc.2020.598464

ISSN=2234-943X

ABSTRACT=Liver cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors. Natural killer (NK) cells play an important role in the natural antitumor immune response. In recent years, NK cell dysfunction has been demonstrated in liver cancer. However, the molecular biological mechanism of NK cell dysfunction in liver cancer is still unclear. CircRNAs are stable covalently closed non-coding RNAs. Many studies indicate that circRNAs are involved in the pathological and physiological processes of liver cancer. In this review, we summarized the functions of circRNAs in liver cancer, including proliferative, metastasis and apoptosis, liver cancer stemness, cell cycle, immune evasion, glycolysis, angiogenesis, drug resistance/sensitizer, and senescence. Immune escape is considered to be one of the hallmarks of cancer development, and circRNAs predominantly affects NK cells in the immune microenvironment of liver cancer. CircRNAs may be a potential marker for liver cancer and provide new ideas for the study of NK cells in liver cancer.