The circular RNA circMAST1 promotes hepatocellular carcinoma cell proliferation and migration by sponging miR-1299 and regulating CTNND1 expression

Abstract

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a class of non-coding RNAs with a loop structure; however, their functions remain largely unknown. Growing evidence suggests that circRNAs play a pivotal role in the progression of malignant diseases. However, the expression profiles and function of circRNAs in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remain unclear. We investigated the expression of microtubule-associated serine/threonine kinase 1 (MAST1) circRNA (circMAST1) in HCC and healthy tissues using bioinformatics, quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR), and fluorescence in situ hybridization. Luciferase reporter assays were performed to assess the interaction between circMAST1 and miR-1299. Proliferation assays, colony formation assays, flow cytometry, transwell assays, and western blotting were also performed. A mouse xenograft model was also used to determine the effect of circMAST1 on HCC growth in vivo. CircMAST1 was upregulated in HCC tissues and cell lines; silencing via small interfering RNA inhibited migration, invasion, and proliferation of HCC cell lines in vitro as well as tumor growth in vivo. Furthermore, the expression of circMAST1 was positively correlated with catenin delta-1 (CTNND1) and negatively correlated with microRNA (miR)-1299 in HCC clinical samples. Importantly, circMAST1 sponged miR-1299 to stabilize the expression of CTNND1 and promoted tumorigenic features in HCC cell lines. We found that circMAST1 may serve as a novel biomarker for HCC. Moreover, circMAST1 elicits HCC progression by sponging miRNA-1299 and stabilizing CTNND1. Our data provide potential options for therapeutic targets in patients with HCC.

Circ_LDLR Knockdown Suppresses Progression of Hepatocellular Carcinoma via Modulating miR-7/RNF38 Axis

“…5 Accumulating evidence has delineated that circRNAs possess powerful and complicated functions in varied cellular processes, involved in disease development, including cancer. 6,7 Numerous circRNAs were manifested to affect HCC progression by acting as oncogenic stimuli, like circMAST1, circMAN2B2 and hsa_circ_0091581; [8][9][10] or suppressors, such as circ-ABCB10, circRNA-0072309 and circ-0003418. [11][12][13] Derived from low density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR), circ_LDLR (ID: hsa_circ_0003892 in circBase; Position: chr19: 11,230,238,761) was reported to be upregulated in HCC tissues in contrast to non-tumor liver tissues, evidenced by searching circRNA expression profiles, GSE94508 and GSE97332.…”

Silencing of lncRNA NEAT1 inhibits esophageal squamous cell carcinoma proliferation, migration, and invasion via regulation of the miR-1299/MMP2 axis

“…Initially, in our present study, we discovered the lncRNA NEAT1 was upregulated in 32 [29]. In addition, lncRNA HOTAIR promotes the progression of EMT by acting as a ceRNA to regulate ZEB1 expression through the sponging of miR-130a-5p in ESCC [30].…”

Identification of differentially methylated genes as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers of breast cancer

“…Growing evidence shows a strong relationship between epigenetic and genetic aberrations of MAST1 , PRDM14 [ 22 ], and ZNF177 [ 17 ] in tumorigenesis. Previous studies reported that abnormal MAST1 expression is significantly associated with worse cancer prognosis [ 23 , 24 ]. Oishi et al found that aberrant promoter demethylation of MAST1 could be responsible for overexpression of this gene in malignant pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma [ 25 ].…”