CircRNA circ_0067934 silencing inhibits the proliferation, migration and invasion of NSCLC cells and correlates with unfavorable prognosis in NSCLC

J. Wang, H. Li

Department of Thoracic surgery, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University, Xuanwu, Beijing, China. wj17nl@163.com

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• Oncology

OBJECTIVE: Circular RNAs are a subgroup of non-coding RNAs and generated by a mammalian genome. The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical significance, biological function and molecular mechanism of circ_0067934 in human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

PATIENTS AND METHODS: We assayed expression level of circ_0067934 in NSCLC tissues and cell lines by Real-time PCR. The associations of circ_0067934 expression with clinicopathologic features and overall survival of patients with NSCLC were statistically analyzed. Biological functions of circ_0067934 were analyzed using MTT and transwell migration and invasion assays in vitro. The expression of EMT-related mRNAs and proteins was assayed using Real-time PCR and Western blot.

RESULTS: We found that circ_0067934 expression was significantly increased in NSCLC tissues and cell lines. High circ_0067934 expression was significantly associated with TNM stage (p=0.003), lymph node status (p=0.000), and distant metastasis (p=0.017). Moreover, Kaplan-Meier curves showed that higher expression of circ_0067934 led to a significantly poorer survival. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards analysis suggested that circ_0067934 was an independent poor prognostic factor for patients with NSCLC. In vitro assay indicated that down-regulation of circ_0067934 could suppress NSCLC cells proliferation, migration, and invasion. Mechanistic analysis showed that aberrant circ_0067934 expression could modulate the expression levels of markers of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition.

CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggested that circ_0067934 functioned as an oncogenic circular RNA in NSCLC, which provided a potential prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target for NSCLC.

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