环状RNA(circRNAs)是一种无3\'聚腺苷化[poly-(A)]尾或5\'帽的共价闭合环结构非编码RNA(ncRNA),是一个崭新的研究领域.环状RNA最早于20世纪70年代在RNA病毒中被发现,但由于传统的多聚腺苷酸转录组分析的局限性,最初发现的circRNAs数量很少.由于特定的生化和计算方法的发展,近年来的研究表明,大量circRNAs在真核转录组中自然而广泛地存在.研究发现circRNAs在多种生理和病理过程中发挥重要作用,如充当miRNA海绵、与RNA结合蛋白(RBP)结合、作为转录调控因子,甚至作为翻译模板.研究者认为circRNAs可能是与各种疾病的诊断、疗效和预后相关的潜在生物标志物,由于其稳定性和组织及发育阶段的特异性,可能成为有效的治疗靶点.本综述重点讨论circRNAs的特性及其免疫功能并揭示其在免疫相关疾病中的作用.“,”Objective Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are non-coding RNAs (ncRNA) circularized without a 3′polyadenylation [poly-(A)] tail or a 5′cap, resulting in a covalently closed loop structure. circRNAs were first discovered in RNA viruses in the 1970s, but only a small number of circRNAs were discovered at that time due to limitations in traditional polyadenylated transcriptome analyses. With the development of specific biochemical and computational methods, recent studies have shown the presence of abundant circRNAs in eukaryotic transcriptomes. circRNAs play vital roles in many physiological and pathological processes, such as acting as miRNA sponges, binding to RNA-binding proteins (RBPs), acting as transcriptional regulatory factors, and even serving as translation templates. Current evidence has shown that circRNAs can be potentially used as excellent biomarkers for diagnosis, therapeutic effect evaluation, and prognostic assessment of a variety of diseases, and they may also provide effective therapeutic targets due to their stability and tissue and development-stage specificity. This review focuses on the properties of circRNAs and their immune relationship to disease, and explores the role of circRNAs in immune-related diseases and the directions of future research.