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In cancer, circRNAs affect cell cycle, angiogenesis, apoptosis, proliferation, motility, and metastasis. The review analyzes bidirectional interactions between circRNAs and MAPK signaling (notably Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK) and highlights therapeutic strategies via circRNA modulation and MAPK pathway inhibition.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/healthcare/","Healthcare",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/crosstalk-between-circrnas-and-the-mapk-signaling-pathway-in-cancer-progression-review-open-access/354194/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/crosstalk-between-circrnas-and-the-mapk-signaling-pathway-in-cancer-progression-review-open-access/354194.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Cart","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-27","2026-09-22",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",10,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What roles do circRNAs play in cancer progression?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"CircRNAs influence cell cycle progression, angiogenesis, apoptosis, proliferation, motility, and metastasis, partly by acting as protein templates, microRNA sponges, and transcriptional regulators.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"Why is the MAPK signaling pathway important in cancer?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"MAPK pathways, especially the Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK cascade, control cell survival and proliferation; hyperactivation of ERK is linked to cancer progression.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"What therapeutic implications does the review emphasize?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"It discusses strategies such as circRNA modulation (targeting transcriptional regulator functions or microRNA sponge activity) and MAPK pathway inhibition to control cancer progression.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},354194,1790735776,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,96,101,106,110,115,120,123,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":97,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":102,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":103,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":105},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":107,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},7,40,"healthcare",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":112,"show_sort_weight":113,"slug":114},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":116,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":117,"show_sort_weight":118,"slug":119},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":118,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":121,"show_sort_weight":118,"slug":122},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":55,"slug":125},"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":131},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":107,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":144,"read_time":99},18829141979164,"https://eur-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_6f874abed73319feea01a86fa6f0fab8","Zahedi et al. Discover Oncology (2026) 17:744 [https://doi.org/10.1007/s12672-026-04875-8](https://doi.org/10.1007/s12672-026-04875-8)  \nDiscover Oncology  \nREVIEW Open Access  \nCrosstalk between circRNAs and the MAPK signaling pathway in cancer progression  \nMohammad Zahedi1, Ehsan Maghrebi-Ghojogh2, Fatemeh Ahangari3, Maryam Zamani Sani4, Alireza Mafi5, Kiavash Hushmandi6, Seyed Ali Olianasab7, Salman Daneshi8, Mina Alimohammadi9*,  \nSeyedeh Mahdieh Khoshnazar 10*, Najma Farahani 11*, Mehrdad Hashemi 11,12* and Afshin Taheriazam11,13*  \n*Correspondence:  \nMina Alimohammadi[mina.alimohammadi11@gmail.com](mina.alimohammadi11@gmail.com)[ ](mina.alimohammadi11@gmail.com)Seyedeh Mahdieh Khoshnazar[m_khoshnazar@kmu.ac.ir](m_khoshnazar@kmu.ac.ir)  \nNajma Farahani [Najmafarahani@gmail.com](Najmafarahani@gmail.com)[ ](Najmafarahani@gmail.com)Mehrdad Hashemi [mhashemi@iautmu.ac.ir](mhashemi@iautmu.ac.ir)  \nAfshin Taheriazam[a.taheriazam@iautmu.ac.ir](a.taheriazam@iautmu.ac.ir)  \nFull list of author information is available at the end of the article  \nAbstract  \nNoncoding RNAs (ncRNAs), including long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), circular RNAs (circRNAs), and small ncRNAs, play critical roles in regulating biological processes and disease development. Among these, circRNAs, characterized by their singlestranded, covalently closed structures, act as protein templates, microRNA sponges, and transcriptional regulators, exhibiting high stability and distinct expression profiles. CircRNAs play an important role in several diseases, including autoimmune disorders, cardiovascular diseases, neurological conditions, and cancers. In cancer, they influence key mechanisms like cell cycle development, angiogenesis, apoptosis, proliferation, motility, and metastasis. Meanwhile, the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathways—especially the Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK cascade—are central to controlling cell survival, proliferation, and tumor development, with hyperactivation of ERK linked to cancer progression. Despite the important roles of both circRNAs and MAPK pathways in oncogenesis, the mechanisms underlying their interplay remain poorly understood. This review aims to fill this knowledge gap by examining the bidirectional interactions between circRNAs and MAPK signaling in cancer and explores therapeutic implications, focusing on strategies such as circRNA modulation (targeting their functions as transcriptional regulators or microRNA sponges) and MAPK pathway inhibition to control cancer progression.  \nKeywords Cancer progression, CircRNAs, MAPK signaling pathway, diagnostic biomarkers, Therapeutics targets  \n1 Introduction  \nNoncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) represent a substantial portion of the transcriptome and play key biological roles in several cellular processes. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), circular RNAs (circRNAs), and small ncRNAs are among the increasing number of unique ncRNAs discovered thanks to recent advancements in sequencing techniques and data analysis [1]. Single-stranded, covalently closed RNA molecules known as circRNAs are found in many species. CircRNAs perform biological functions as protein templates and microRNA (miR) sponges. Additionally, intronic circRNAs (ciRNAs) and  \n© The Author(s) 2026. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article","cbCaifTYdldgMA9W","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaifTYdldgMA9W","pdf",1467606,24,"English","# Abstract\n# Keywords\n# 1 Introduction","[{\"question\":\"What roles do circRNAs play in cancer progression?\",\"answer\":\"CircRNAs influence cell cycle progression, angiogenesis, apoptosis, proliferation, motility, and metastasis, partly by acting as protein templates, microRNA sponges, and transcriptional regulators.\"},{\"question\":\"Why is the MAPK signaling pathway important in cancer?\",\"answer\":\"MAPK pathways, especially the Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK cascade, control cell survival and proliferation; hyperactivation of ERK is linked to cancer progression.\"},{\"question\":\"What therapeutic implications does the review emphasize?\",\"answer\":\"It discusses strategies such as circRNA modulation (targeting transcriptional regulator functions or microRNA sponge activity) and MAPK pathway inhibition to control cancer progression.\"}]","Crosstalk between circRNAs and the MAPK signaling pathway in cancer progression - Review Open Access | PDF",1790109407]