20.500.12556/RUP-22119 Circular RNAs and their emerging roles in muscular immune-related diseases Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have recently emerged as a highly stable and versatile class of non-coding RNAs that play critical roles in gene regulation, yet their involvement in immune-mediated muscle disorders remains largely underexplored. This review synthesizes how circRNAs influence key processes in both skeletal muscle and immune cells, from myogenesis, regeneration, and muscle stem cell function to inflammatory signaling and muscle wasting. Our aim was to identify circRNA insights across muscle immune-mediated diseases. However, we found no idiopathic inflammatory myopathy-focused circRNA studies, only a limited body of work in Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and predominantly peripheral blood mononuclear cell-based evidence in myasthenia gravis. These gaps highlight clear priorities: subtype-resolved circRNA atlases for idiopathic inflammatory myopathy; paired muscle–biofluid and cell-type–resolved profiling (including infiltrating immune populations); rigorous in vivo functional validation beyond correlative expression; fuller mechanistic delineation beyond miRNA competition (e.g., RNA binding protein interactions, translation, epigenetic regulation); and longitudinal cohorts linking circRNA dynamics to disease activity and treatment response. We particularly noted lack of in-depth studies addressing the interplay between muscle and immune cells in these conditions. Furthermore, we examine pioneering efforts to engineer circRNAs as therapeutic agents, capable of either neutralizing pathogenic pathways that drive muscle atrophy or restoring dystrophin expression in genetic disease models. Finally, we outline future directions for circRNA profiling in patient tissues and biofluids, rigorous functional validation in vivo, and the development of circRNA-based diagnostics. This positions circRNAs at the forefront of next-generation strategies for understanding and combating immune-related muscular disorders. circular RNA skeletal muscle immune cells idiopathic inflammatory myopathies Duchenne muscular dystrophy myasthenia gravis krožna RNK skeletne mišice imunske celice idiopatske vnetne miopatije Duchennova mišična distrofija miastenija gravis true false true Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik Članek v reviji 2025-11-18 09:34:57 2025-11-18 09:35:01 2026-02-02 13:17:16 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2025 0 0 str. 1-19 Vol. 16, [article no.] 1675567 2025 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova NiDoloceno NiDoloceno 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 2025-11-13 606:61 1664-3224 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1675567 257561091 RAZ_Urzi_Felicita_2025.pdf RAZ_Urzi_Felicita_2025.pdf 1 149402ACF04E6DDAAB5E197B12BF986B b14d211b16ef3f32cf45f37a458d528986c8bdffa965cc961cddb7602455f3b7 e5e1779c-c459-11f0-8f0b-005056ac49c0 https://repozitorij.upr.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=32074 https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2025.1675567/full 1 b74ed102-c459-11f0-8f0b-005056ac49c0 https://repozitorij.upr.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=32073 Fakulteta za matematiko, naravoslovje in informacijske tehnologije 0 0 0