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. 2018 Dec 18;9:2977. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2018.02977

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Copyright © 2018 Yang, Fu and Zhou.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

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CircRNAs in immune responses. Exogenous circRNAs can activate the RIG-1 cellular immune response pathway to suppress viral replication. The immune factor NF90/NF110 can promote circRNA formation by stabilizing the intron complementary sequence. Under viral infection, NF90/NF110 is exported from the nucleus to the cytoplasm to inhibit virus replication. Meanwhile, circRNA expression in the nucleus is decreased. Thus, endogenous circRNAs can be used as “molecular indicators” of antiviral proteins to prompt antiviral immune responses. circRNAs can also function as “microRNA sponges” to increase expression of target proteins involved in antiviral responses or tumor immunity, such as PD-L1. mcircRasGEF1B can help to protect cells from bacterial infection by enhancing the stability of mature ICAM-1 mRNA. In addition, circRNAs can be involved in immune responses by interacting with proteins or their host genes.