Circ-0000979 promotes the development of gastric carcinoma by sponging miR-136 and modulating SP1 mRNA expression level

Abstract

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a new class of non-coding RNAs that play pivotal biological roles in several types of cancer cells. However, the role of circ0000979 in gastric cancer (GC) has never been explored. Therefore, the current study aims to examine the functional effects of circ-0000979 in GC development and progression. The expression level of circ-0000979 was validated using qRT-PCR analysis. We found that circ-0000979 is significantly upregulated in GC samples. Using AGS and HGC27 GC cell line, we examined the biological functions and regulatory mechanisms of circ0000979 in GC in vitro and in vivo by knocking down circ-0000979. We found that circ-0000979 is subcellularly localized in the cytoplasm of GC cells. Functionally, silencing circ-0000979 leads to a significant reduction in GC cell proliferation and migration. In vivo assays showed that circ-0000979 knockdown markedly reduced GC tumor growth. CircRNA interactome predicted miR-136 as circ0000979 targeting miRNA, while starbase prediction result showed that miR-136 targeted the 3’UTR region of SP1 mRNA. Taken together, our results demonstrated that circ-0000979, as a carcinogenic circRNA, promotes the progression of GC by regulating the miR-136/SP1 pathway. Circ-0000979 is a potential RNA-based therapeutic target for GC treatment.