Research Paper Volume 12, Issue 21 pp 21114—21128

Hsa_circ_0043278 functions as competitive endogenous RNA to enhance glioblastoma multiforme progression by sponging miR-638

Zhi Wu1, , Maohua Zheng1, , Yonghong Zhang1, , Min Xie1, , Shilai Tian1, , Tao Ding1, , Lichao Li1, , Quanlin Guan2, &, ,

  • 1 Department of Neurosurgery, The First Hospital of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
  • 2 Department of Surgical Oncology, The First hospital of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China

Received: February 25, 2020       Accepted: June 9, 2020       Published: November 5, 2020      

https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.103603
How to Cite

Copyright: © 2020 Wu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Abstract

Circular RNAs have a critical function in the pathogenesis of many diseases and can function as competing endogenous RNA or miRNA sponges to inhibit miRNA and therefore upregulate the expression of target genes. However, little is known about the role of has_circRNA_0043278 (circ_0043278) in glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) and its potential downstream miRNA targets. This work validated that circ_0043278 is highly expressed in GMB cell lines and tissues, while knockdown circ_0043278 inhibited GBM cell migration, proliferation, and invasion in vitro and tumorigenesis in vivo. Dual-luciferase reporter assay determined that circ_0043278 directly sponged miR-638 to upregulate the expression of HOXA9, which can activate downstream Wnt/β-catenin signaling in GBM. Moreover, miR-638 inhibition reversed circ_0043278 silencing-induced impairment of malignant tumor behavior. These results showed that circ-0043278/miRNA-638/ Homeobox A9 (HOXA9) axis had a vital function in promoting GBM progression. Our findings may provide potential new targets for the diagnosis and therapy of GBM.

Abbreviations

GBM: glioblastoma multiforme; OS: overall survival; circRNAs: Circular RNAs; miRNA: microRNA; NHAs: normal human astrocytes; DMEM: Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium; FBS: fetal bovine serum; NC: negative control; shRNAs: small hairpin RNAs; FISH: Fluorescence in situ hybridization; CCK-8: cell counting kit-8; wt: Wild-type; mut: mutant; ceRNA: competitive endogenous RNA; SD: standard deviation.