Research Paper Volume 15, Issue 24 pp 14915—14929
hsa_circ_0002980 prevents proliferation, migration, invasion, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition of liver cancer cells through microRNA-1303/cell adhesion molecule 2 axis
- 1 Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Zhongshan Hospital, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361004, China
- 2 Department of Surgical Clinical, HeZe Medical College, Heze City 274022, China
- 3 The Second Department of General Surgery, Zhuhai People’s Hospital, Zhuhai, Guangdong 51900, China
Received: May 30, 2023 Accepted: September 26, 2023 Published: December 19, 2023
https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.205317How to Cite
Copyright: © 2023 Wang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background: Liver cancer (LC) is a rare malignancy. Circular RNA (circRNA) dysregulation is associated with LC metastasis. hsa_circ_0002980 was found to be unexpectedly downregulated in LC tissues; however, its specific function remains unclear.
Methods: hsa_circ_0002980 expression was confirmed using RT-qPCR. The effects of circ_0002980 on the proliferation, metastasis, and EMT-related proteins of LC cells were assessed using clone formation, flow cytometry, Transwell assays, and Western blotting. The relationship between circ_0002980 and miR-1303 or miR-1303 and CADM2 was analyzed using a dual-luciferase reporter assay. Thereafter, the influence of these three genes on LC cell progression was determined through rescue experiments.
Results: hsa_circ_0002980 expression was lower in LC. circ_0002980 overexpression inhibited the proliferation, migration, invasion, and EMT of LC cells. In addition, circ_0002980 specifically binds to miR-1303, and the accelerated effect of miR-1303 overexpression on LC progression was partially reversed by circ_0002980. Moreover, miR-1303 can also target CADM2, and CADM2-mediated prevention can also be attenuated by miR-1303 overexpression.
Conclusions: In LC cells, circ_0002980 upregulation prevents cell proliferation, metastasis, and EMT by affecting the miR-1303/CADM2 axis. Therefore, this axis may be a novel therapeutic target in LC.