Ricerc@Sapienza

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a group of long non-coding RNAs that have been discovered around three decades ago, but for many years their biological role remained unclear. Studies of the last years have expanded the knowledge of circ RNAs' functions in cells revealing their possible role as micro-RNA sponges, regulators of transcription and splicing, participants of ribosomal RNA processing, adaptors of protein-protein interactions and potentially translatable transcripts. Several investigations unveiled circRNAs' key role in cancer development being differentially expressed in many tumor tissues and cell lines and having both oncosupressor and oncogenic effects. Although some functional circRNAs have been observed in some solid tumors, implication of these molecules in hematological malignancies has been assessed by few studies dedicated to B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia and acute myeloblastic leukemia. Up to date nothing is known about the role of circRNAs in the mechanisms underlying T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) .The current project is focused on identification and characterization of circRNAs involved in T-ALL onset, development and progression.