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World J Gastrointest Oncol. Dec 15, 2025; 17(12): 113636
Published online Dec 15, 2025. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v17.i12.113636
Molecular mechanism of non-coding RNAs-mediated radiosensitivity regulation in colorectal cancer
Xiao Li, Xiu-Xia Hao, Rui-Qing Zhu, Hong-Wei Zhou
Xiao Li, Xiu-Xia Hao, Hong-Wei Zhou, Department of General Medicine, The Fourth Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100048, China
Rui-Qing Zhu, Department of Gastroenterology, The First Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100853, China
Co-first authors: Xiao Li and Xiu-Xia Hao.
Co-corresponding authors: Xiao Li and Hong-Wei Zhou.
Author contributions: Li X and Hao XX contributed equally as co-first authors; Li X and Zhou HW designed the framework and content of this article, and made equal contributions as co-corresponding authors; Li X, Zhu RQ, and Hao XX completed the literature review and article writing; Li X summarized the tables; all authors did critical revision of this article and have approved the final draft submitted.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Xiao Li, MD, PhD, Department of General Medicine, The Fourth Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital, No. 51 Fucheng Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100048, China. nklx@foxmail.com
Received: August 31, 2025
Revised: September 25, 2025
Accepted: October 28, 2025
Published online: December 15, 2025
Processing time: 103 Days and 15.1 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Colorectal cancer (CRC), a leading cause of cancer mortality, shows less than 10% 5-year survival in advanced stages and radiotherapy is crucial for advanced CRC patients. Noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs), including microRNAs, long ncRNAs and circular RNAs, significantly influence CRC radiosensitivity through diverse mechanisms like epithelial-mesenchymal transition, epigenetic reprogramming, post-transcriptional regulation and oncogenic signaling pathways activation. They show promise as biomarkers for predicting radiosensitivity and prognosis, and as therapeutic targets to overcome radioresistance. Targeting ncRNA-mediated networks offers promising strategies to overcome radioresistance and improve outcomes, bridging molecular mechanisms with precision radiotherapy for advanced CRC.