Circular RNA circ_0000467 regulates colorectal cancer development via miR-382-5p/EN2 axis

ABSTRACT

Circular RNAs (CircRNAs), belonging to non-coding RNAs, exert a crucial modulatory role in cancer progression. In this study, circRNA microarray analysis was utilized to screen differentially expressed circRNA in colorectal cancer (CRC) and circ_0000467 was identified as one circRNA whose expression was significantly upregulated in CRC. Quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) indicated that circ_0000467 and engrailed-2 (EN2) expression levels were up-modulated, while the expression level of miR-382-5p was down-modulated in CRC tissues. The depletion of circ_0000467 expression was found to impede the multiplication, migration, invasion, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) processes in CRC cells, which were examined by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) and Transwell experiments. Dual-luciferase reporter assay was used to verify the targeting relationship between circ_0000467 and miR-382-5p. It was also revealed that circ_0000467 could up-regulate EN2 expression via repressing miR-382-5p in CRC cells. Furthermore, EN2 overexpression counteracted the suppressing effects of circ_0000467 knockdown on the malignant behaviors of CRC cells. To sum up, circ_0000467 facilitates CRC development by modulating the miR-382-5p/EN2 axis, and circ_0000467 is a promising target for CRC therapy.

KEYWORDS:

• circ_0000467
• CRC
• miR-382-5p
• EN2

Highlights

1. Circ_0000467 is highly expressed in CRC.

2. Circ_0000467 affects the multiplication, migration, invasion, and EMT processes of CRC cells.

3. Circ_0000467 functions as a sponge of miR-382-5p in CRC cells.

EN2 is a target of miR-382-5p.

Acknowledgements

We thank Hubei Yican Health Industry Co., Ltd for its linguistic assistance during the preparation of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethics statement

Our study was approved by the Ethics Review Board of the People’s Hospital of China Three Gorges University.

Data Availability Statement

The data used to support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.