PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - ULRICH H. WEIDLE
AU  - TATJANA SELA
AU  - ULRICH BRINKMANN
AU  - JENS NIEWOEHNER
TI  - Circular RNAs With Efficacy in Preclinical <em>In Vitro</em> and <em>In Vivo</em> Models of Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma
AID  - 10.21873/cgp.20320
DP  - 2022 May 01
TA  - Cancer Genomics - Proteomics
PG  - 283--298
VI  - 19
IP  - 3
4099  - http://cgp.iiarjournals.org/content/19/3/283.short
4100  - http://cgp.iiarjournals.org/content/19/3/283.full
SO  - Cancer Genomics Proteomics2022 May 01; 19
AB  - Esophageal cancer is associated with a dismal prognosis. The armamentarium of approved drugs is focused on chemotherapy with modest therapeutic benefit. Recently, checkpoint inhibitory monoclonal antibody Pembrolizumab was approved. In order to identify new targets and modalities for the treatment of esophagus squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) we searched the literature for circRNAs involved in the pathogenesis of ESCC. We identified two down-regulated and 17 up-regulated circRNAs as well as a synthetic circRNA with efficacy in preclinical in vivo systems. Down-regulated circRNAs sponge microRNAs directed against tumor suppressor genes. Up-regulated circRNAs sponge microRNAs directed against mRNAs, which encode proteins with pro-tumoral functions. We discuss issues such as reconstitution of down-regulated circRNAs and inhibition of up-regulated circRNAs with short interfering RNA (siRNA)- related entities. Also, we address druggability issues of the identified targets.