OncoTargets and Therapy (May 2018)
Upregulation of circ_0066444 promotes the proliferation, invasion, and migration of gastric cancer cells
Abstract
Dawei Rong, Chaoxi Dong, Kai Fu, Hanjin Wang, Weiwei Tang, Hongyong Cao Department of General Surgery, Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China Background: Circular RNAs (circRNAs), which have closed-loop structure, are involved in the pathogenesis of human diseases including various types of carcinomas. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between a new circular RNA named circ_0066444 and gastric cancer (GC) carcinogenesis.Materials and methods: The circ_0066444 levels in 106 paired gastric carcinoma tissues and related adjacent normal tissues were detected by real-time quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction. The correlation between the expression of circ_0066444 and clinicopathological features was analyzed. The impact of circ_0066444 expression on cell proliferation, invasion, as well as migration was evaluated in vitro using knockdown expression strategies. Finally, a network of circ_0066444-targeted miRNA interactions and their corresponding mRNAs was constructed.Results: circ_0066444 was found to be significantly upregulated in 106 GC tissues as compared with paired adjacent nontumorous tissues (P=0.025), showing a high positive correlation with lymphatic metastasis (P=0.023). Furthermore, in vitro assays of the GC cell lines BGC-823 and AGS demonstrated that knockdown of circ_0066444 reduced cell proliferation, invasion, and migration significantly. Prediction and annotation revealed circ_0066444 was able to sponge to 5 miRNAs and 15 corresponding target mRNAs.Conclusion: Our study indicated upregulation of circ_0066444 promotes gastric cell proliferation, invasion, and migration ability and might serve as a novel biomarker for GC. Keywords: migration, invasion, proliferation, diagnoses, miRNA
