{"paper_id":"867414ac-243c-4048-a4e4-d1670ddf5249","body_text":"Abstract\nEndometriosis is a developing inflammatory disorder, which arises from the migration and aberrant growth of endometrial cells in extrauterine areas in an estrogen-dependent fashion, representing an approximate prevalence of 15% among menstruating women. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) account for a special subtype of endogenous non-coding RNAs that act as significant regulators of numerous biological activities by controlling the abundance of cellular microRNAs, getting involved in post-transcriptional modifications, and contributing to protein translation. In this review, we summarized available evidence on alterations of circRNA expression in women with endometriosis, as well as elaborated on the mechanistic processes by which circRNAs participate in the pathogenesis of endometriosis, throwing the spotlight on the significance of circRNAs as possible diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic agents.\nSimilar content being viewed by others\nData Availability\nNo datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.\nReferences\nGarvey, M., & Endometriosis (2024). Future biological perspectives for diagnosis and treatment. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 25(22). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms252212242\nEllis, K., Munro, D., & Clarke, J. (2022). Endometriosis is undervalued: A call to action. Front Glob Womens Health, 3, 902371. https://doi.org/10.3389/fgwh.2022.902371\nSmolarz, B., Szyłło, K., Romanowicz, H., & Endometriosis (2021). Epidemiology, Classification, Pathogenesis, treatment and genetics (Review of Literature). 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Faseb J, 38(5), e23515. https://doi.org/10.1096/fj.202301654RR\nPeng, Y., Xiong, W., He, H., Liu, H., Fu, T., Long, X., et al. (2025). Estradiol promotes endometriosis progression via the ERβ/QKI /circSMAD2 axis. Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology. https://doi.org/10.2174/0113892010331129250216041033\nAuthor information\nAuthors and Affiliations\nContributions\n“S.Q. Writing - Original Draft; J.Z. Writing - Original Draft; X.W. Conceptualization, Writing - Review & Editing. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. The authors confirm that no paper mill and artificial intelligence was used.”\nCorresponding author\nEthics declarations\nConflict of Interest\nThe authors declare no competing interests.\nAdditional information\nPublisher’s Note\nSpringer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.\nRights and permissions\nSpringer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.\nAbout this article\nCite this article\nQiu, S., Zhu, J. & Wen, X. Circular RNAs in Endometriosis: from Expression Pattern To Pathogenesis. Cell Biochem Biophys 84, 211–224 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12013-025-01904-1\nAccepted:\nPublished:\nVersion of record:\nIssue date:\nDOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12013-025-01904-1","source_license":"public-domain-us","license_restricted":false}