This circular RNA can inhibit atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis is the pathological basis for the occurrence and development of chronic cardiovascular diseases such as coronary heart disease, myocardial infarction, and cerebral apoplexy, and vascular pathological remodeling is the main mechanism of atherosclerosis leading to chronic cardiovascular diseases

After 5 years of hard work, researchers such as Zeng Chunyu, Professor Wu Gengze of Cardiovascular Medicine, Army Specialty Medical Center (Daping Hospital), Army Medical University, and other researchers screened out the highly expressed circRNA-circEsyt2 in atherosclerotic plaques from mouse models, and identified them as circEsyt2.

Atherosclerosis is a type of cardiovascular disease and the main cause of coronary heart disease, cerebral infarction and peripheral vascular disease

The study found that circEsyt2 was significantly overexpressed in mouse atherosclerotic plaques and vascular remodeling neointima

Mechanistic studies found that after knocking out and reducing circEsyt2, the genes related to cell proliferation and apoptosis in the p53 pathway in vascular smooth muscle cells changed accordingly, and p53β, one of the alternative spliceosomes of p53, was significantly up-regulated.

The research team also used RNA-pulldown combined with mass spectrometry identification technology to clarify that circEsyt2 can directly bind to the splicing regulator PCBP1 and regulate its entry and exit into the nucleus, which in turn affects the generation of p53β, and finally affects the process of pathological vascular remodeling.

Zeng Chunyu said that according to the characteristics of high expression abundance and strong stability of circular RNAs, circular RNAs are used as molecular diagnosis and treatment targets, starting from the root cause of vascular remodeling, to effectively "control the development of atherosclerosis".