Research Paper Volume 12, Issue 13 pp 13255—13280

Circular RNA circMBOAT2 promotes prostate cancer progression via a miR-1271-5p/mTOR axis

Juanyi Shi1,2, *, , Cheng Liu1,2, *, , Changhao Chen1,2, *, , Kaixuan Guo1,2, , Zhuang Tang1,2, , Yuming Luo2,3, , Luping Chen2,4, , Yinjie Su1,2, , Kewei Xu1,2, ,

  • 1 Department of Urology, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P. R. China
  • 2 Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Malignant Tumor Epigenetics and Gene Regulation, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P. R. China
  • 3 Department of Pancreatobiliary Surgery, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P. R. China
  • 4 Department of Pediatric Surgery, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P. R. China
* Equal contribution

Received: January 9, 2020       Accepted: April 27, 2020       Published: July 9, 2020      

https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.103432
How to Cite

Copyright © 2020 Shi 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

Patients with advanced prostate cancer (PCa) have poor prognosis. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) regulate biological processes in a variety of cancers, but the precise roles of circRNAs in PCa are poorly understood. Herein, we identified a novel circRNA, termed circMBOAT2 (has_circ_0007334), which was significantly overexpressed in PCa tissues and cell lines. Overexpression of circMBOAT2 was associated with high Gleason score, advanced pathological T stage, and poor prognosis. Overexpression of circMBOAT2 promoted proliferation, migration, and invasion of PCa cells in vitro, and enhanced tumorigenesis and metastasis in vivo. Mechanistically, circMBOAT2 overexpression upregulated the expression of mTOR by acting as a decoy for miR-1271-5p, resulting in the activation of the PI3K/Akt pathway, ultimately promoting the progression of PCa. Importantly, application of an inhibitor of mTOR significantly antagonized circMBOAT2-mediated PCa tumorigenesis in vivo. circMBOAT2 promotes proliferation and metastasis of PCa through miR-1271-5p/mTOR axis-mediated activation of the PI3K/Akt pathway. In summary, our findings uncover a molecular mechanism in the progression of PCa and indicate that circMBOAT2 may be a useful prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target in PCa.

Abbreviations

gDNA: genomic DNA; CCK-8: cell counting kit 8; UTR: untranslated region; poly(A): polyadenylic acid; siRNA: small interfering RNA; shRNA: short hairpin RNA.