Circ_0091579 promotes proliferative ability and metastasis of liver cancer cells by regulating microRNA-490-3p

W.-Y. Niu, L. Chen, P. Zhang, H. Zang, B. Zhu, W.-B. Shao

Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Nantong First People’s Hospital, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong, China. newway82@gmail.com

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• Oncology

OBJECTIVE: To explore the role of Circular RNA 0091579 in the progression of liver cancer (LCa) and its molecular mechanism.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was used to detect circ_0091579 expression levels in LCa tissues and adjacent tissues, which was further verified in LCa cells and normal liver epithelial cells. After circ_0091579 was knocked down in Huh7 and HepG2 cells, cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8), plate cloning and transwell assays were performed to verify the effect of circ_0091579 on cell proliferative ability and metastasis of LCa cells. The starBase database was used to search for microRNAs that could interact with circ_0091579, and the Dual-Luciferase reporter gene was used to verify their binding relationship.

RESULTS: circ_0091579 was highly expressed in HCC and HCC cells. In vitro experiments showed that down-regulation of circ_0091579 expression could remarkably inhibit the proliferative ability and metastasis of HCC cells. Bioinformatics software predicted the binding sites between circ_0091579 and microRNA-490-3p, and dual-luciferase reporter gene assay confirmed the binding relationship between circ_0091579 and microRNA-490-3p. qPCR results showed that microRNA-490-3p was remarkably down-regulated in LCa tissues. In vitro experiments confirmed that overexpression of microRNA-490-3p inhibited the proliferative ability and metastasis of HCC cells.

CONCLUSIONS: circ_0091579 is abnormally highly expressed in LCa tissues and cells. Down-regulation of circ_0091579 can inhibit the proliferative ability and metastasis of HCC cells by regulating microRNA-490-3p, thus accelerating the progress of the tumor.

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