Abstract: CircRNA is a single-stranded, covalently closed non-coding RNA, whose mechanism mainly involves sponge adsorption of micro RNA (miRNA), regulation of protein transcription and post-transcriptional levels, interaction with RNA-binding proteins and few coding proteins of circRNA. Meanwhile, because of its abundant expression, highly conserved and dynamic changes, circRNAs have promising applications such as becoming biomarkers of diseases, developing circRNA vaccines and gene editing therapies for circRNAs. Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death from diseases worldwide, and existing therapeutic approaches can delay the development of heart diseases, but are still limited by the unknown pathogenesis and therapeutic targets. Many studies have reported the mechanistic link between circRNAs and cardiac diseases, therefore, this review is to explain the progress of circRNA research in cardiovascular diseases and to illustrate the three clinical applications in which circRNAs are currently involved.

Key words: circRNAs, cardiovascular diseases, RNA vaccine, RNA editing