CircRNA_0008194 functions as a ceRNA to promote invasion of hepatocellular carcinoma via inhibiting miR-190a/AHNAK signaling pathway.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Hepatitis B virus infection was identified as the main risk factor of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in China, which induced a high morbidity and mortality. In recent years, circRNAs were reported involving in the oncogenesis and development of multiple malignant tumors.

METHOD:

Bioinformatical analysis has been employed to predict the relevant circRNA with AHNAK. The loss of function and gain of function have been used by knocking-down circRNA through the shRNA technology while overexpressing through lentivirus infection. Dual-luciferase reporter assay was used to detect circRNA binding to miRNA and target genes. We further used immunoprecipitation technique to detect the binding ability between non-coding RNAs.

RESULTS:

In this study, according to the previous report, we mainly focused on AHNAK, which has been confirmed as an oncogene involving in the metastasis of HCC. Bioinformatics analysis showed that circ_0008194 could be spliced by AHNAK. In this study, the abnormal upregulated circ_0008194 in tumor tissues was detected. The positive correlation between circ_0008194 and AHNAK was also confirmed. Through knockdown and overexpression of circ_0008194, we conducted in vitro functional studies. We found circ_0008194 could induce the invasion of cells in vitro. Mechanically, circ_0008194 presented the binding ability with miR-190a causing the suppression of miR-190a expression, causing the competitive inhibition of AHNAK, resulting in the promotion of EMT.

CONCLUSION:

Our results suggested that circ_0008194 may act as a sponge to adsorb miR-190a, thereby promoting the expression of AHNAK and promoting the metastasis of liver cancer tumors.

• Authors: Wei Liu, Ying Pan, Hengbo Zhu, Yi Zhou, Hui Zhang, Liu Liu, Qing Liu, Guozhong Ji
• Journal: Journal of clinical laboratory analysis (J Clin Lab Anal) Vol. 36 Issue 4 Pg. e24286 (Apr 2022) ISSN: 1098-2825 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 35199873 (Publication Type: Journal Article)
• Copyright: © 2022 The Authors. Journal of Clinical Laboratory Analysis published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.

Chemical References

• AHNAK protein, human
• MIRN190 microRNA, human
• Membrane Proteins
• MicroRNAs
• Neoplasm Proteins
• RNA, Circular

Topics

• Carcinoma, Hepatocellular (genetics, pathology)
• Cell Line, Tumor
• Cell Proliferation (genetics)
• Humans
• Liver Neoplasms (genetics, pathology)
• Membrane Proteins (genetics, metabolism)
• MicroRNAs (genetics, metabolism)
• Neoplasm Invasiveness
• Neoplasm Proteins (metabolism)
• RNA, Circular (genetics)
• Signal Transduction (genetics)