Available online 2 February 2023, 100937

Author links open overlay panel, , , Abstract

Chemotherapy is one of the primary treatments for malignant tumors. However, the acquired drug resistance hinders clinical efficacy and leads to treatment failure in most patients. Exosomes are cell-derived vesicles with a diameter of 30-150 nm carrying and delivering substances such as DNAs, RNAs, lipids, and proteins for cellular communication in tumor development. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) present covalently closed-loop RNA structures, which regulate tumor cell proliferation, apoptosis, and metastasis by controlling different genes and signaling pathways. CircRNAs are abundant and stably expressed in exosomes. Recent studies have shown that they play critical roles in chemotherapy resistance in various cancers. In this review, we summarized the origin of exosomes and discussed the regulation mechanism of exosomal circRNAs in cancer drug resistance.

AbbreviationMDR, TME

multidrug resistancetumor microenvironment

, RNase

RNA exonuclease or ribonuclease

, EVs

Extracellular vesicles

, MVBs

multivesicular bodies

, HSP70

heat shock protein

, NGS

next generation sequencing

, EcircRNA)

exonic circRNAs

, EIciRNA

exon-intron circRNAs

, RBPs

RNA binding proteins

, ESCC

esophageal squamous carcinoma

, IRES

internal ribosome entry site

, HCC

hepatocellular carcinoma

, EMT

epithelial-mesenchymal transition

, TACE

transarterial chemoembolization

, CAFs

cancer-associated fibroblasts

, NSCLC

non-small cell lung cancer

, EOC

epithelial ovarian cancer

, LNM

lymph node metastasis

, TNBC

triple-negative breast cancer

, NPC

Nasopharyngeal cancer

, PFS

progression-free survival

, OSCC

oral squamous cell carcinoma

, MDSCs

myeloid-derived suppressor cells

Keywords

Exosome

Circular RNA (circRNA)

Chemotherapy resistance

cancer,

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