REVIEWOpenAccessCircRNAsincancermetabolism:areviewTaoYu1†,YanfenWang2†,YuFan3,NaFang3,TongshanWang1,TongpengXu1*†andYongqianShu1*†AbstractAlteredenergymetabolismisahallmarkoftumorsaimingatsupplyingnecessarynutrientsfortumorigenesisanddevelopment.Theseredirectedmetabolicpathwaysassociatedwithcarbohydrate,lipidandaminoacidareorchestratednotonlybycarcinogenicproteinsbutbynon-codingRNAs.Amongthem,circularRNA(circRNA),asakindofnovelidentifiednon-codingRNAs,hasbecomethefocusofattention.ThroughbindingwithcorrespondingmicroRNAsordirectlycontactingproteins,circRNAplaysaprimarilyimportantroleinregulatingcellularmetabolism.Herein,weanalyzetheemergingfindingsandselectcircRNAscontributingtomutantglycolysis,lipogenesisandlipolysis,glutaminolysis,andoxidativerespirationtodeepentheunderstandingaboutthecancermetabolicregulatorynetwork.Inaddition,wealsodiscussthepossibilityofcircRNAsexertingtheirfunctionsviaexosomesandcancerstemcells.Owingtotheiruniquestructuresandwideimpacts,circRNAsmayhelpreaphugefruitsindevelopingclinicaltreatmentstargetingcancermetabolism.Keywords:Cancermetabolism,CircRNAs,Warburgeffect,Lipidmetabolism,Glutamine,ROSBackgroundReprogrammingofenergymetabolismisahallmarkoftu-morscausedbygenomeinstability[1].Deregulatedmetab-olism,whichiswidespreadintumorprogression,providesanessentialsourceforgrowthanddivisionofcancercells.Comparedwithnormaladulttissues,carbonhydrate,lipid,andaminoacidmetabolismsmayundergodramatictrans-formationalchangesintumors(Fig.1).Therecognizedcancer-associatedmetabolicchangesincludederegulateduptakeofglucoseandaminoacids,useofopportunisticmodesofnutrientacquisition,useofglycolysis/tricarboxylicacidcycle(TCA),cycleintermediatesforbiosynthesisandnicotinamideadeninedinucleotidephosphate(NADPH)production,andincreaseddemandfornitrogen[2].Todevelopeffectivetherapeuticstrategiesforcancers,itisofpivotalimportancetoinvestigatethemechanismunder-lyingcancerabnormalmetabolism.Theseredirectionsofenergymetabolismareorches-tratedbybothproteinsandnon-co...
