Extrachromosomal Circular DNA: An Emerging Potential Biomarker for Inflammatory Bowel Diseases?

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  • Valentina Petito
  • Federica Di Vincenzo
  • Lorenza Putignani
  • Maria T. Abreu
  • Regenberg, Birgitte
  • Antonio Gasbarrini
  • Franco Scaldaferri

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) comprising ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease is a chronic immune-mediated disease which affects the gastrointestinal tract with a relapsing and remitting course, causing lifelong morbidity. IBD pathogenesis is determined by multiple factors including genetics, immune and microbial factors, and environmental factors. Although therapy options are expanding, remission rates are unsatisfiable, and together with the disease course, response to therapy remains unpredictable. Therefore, the identification of biomarkers that are predictive for the disease course and response to therapy is a significant challenge. Extrachromosomal circular DNA (eccDNA) fragments exist in all tissue tested so far. These fragments, ranging in length from a few hundreds of base pairs to mega base pairs, have recently gained more interest due to technological advances. Until now, eccDNA has mainly been studied in relation to cancer due to its ability to act as an amplification site for oncogenes and drug resistance genes. However, eccDNA could also play an important role in inflammation, expressed both locally in the- involved tissue and at distant sites. Here, we review the current evidence on the molecular mechanisms of eccDNA and its role in inflammation and IBD. Additionally, the potential of eccDNA as a tissue or plasma marker for disease severity and/or response to therapy is evaluated.

Original languageEnglish
Article number414
JournalGenes
Volume15
Issue number4
Number of pages11
ISSN2073-4425
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 by the authors.

    Research areas

  • circular DNA, colorectal cancer associated with colitis (CAC), Crohn’s disease (CD), extrachromosomal circular DNA (eccDNA), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), ulcerative colitis (UC)

ID: 391162195