Insights into the multifaceted role of circular RNAs: implications for Parkinson’s disease pathogenesis and diagnosis

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a complex, age-related, neurodegenerative disease whose etiology, pathology, and clinical manifestations remain incompletely understood. As a result, care focuses primarily on symptoms relief. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a large class of mostly noncoding RNAs that accumulate with aging in the brain and are increasingly shown to regulate all aspects of neuronal and glial development and function. They are generated by the spliceosome through the backsplicing of linear RNA. Although their biological role remains largely unknown, they have been shown to regulate transcription and splicing, act as decoys for microRNAs and RNA binding proteins, used as templates for translation, and serve as scaffolding platforms for signaling components. Considering that they are stable, diverse, and detectable in easily accessible biofluids, they are deemed promising biomarkers for diagnosing diseases. CircRNAs are differentially expressed in the brain of patients with PD, and growing evidence suggests that they regulate PD pathogenetic processes. Here, the biogenesis, expression, degradation, and detection of circRNAs, as well as their proposed functions, are reviewed. Thereafter, research linking circRNAs to PD-related processes, including aging, alpha-synuclein dysregulation, neuroinflammation, and oxidative stress is highlighted, followed by recent evidence for their use as prognostic and diagnostic biomarkers for PD.