Circular RNA cSMARCA5 inhibits growth and metastasis in hepatocellular carcinoma.

By Jian Yu, Qing‐guo Xu, Zhen-guang Wang, Yuan Yang, Ling Zhang, Jin‐zhao Ma, Shuhan Sun, Fu Yang, Weiping Zhou. Journal of Hepatology, 2018

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BACKGROUND & AIMS In recent years, circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been shown to have critical regulatory roles in cancer biology. However, the contributions of circRNAs to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remain largely unknown. METHODS cSMARCA5 (a circRNA derived from exons 15 and 16 of the SMARCA5 gene, hsa_circ_0001445) was identified by RNA-sequencing and validated by quantitative reverse transcription PCR. The role of cSMARCA5 in HCC progression was assessed both in vitro and in vivo. circRNAs in vivo precipitation, luciferase reporter assay, biotin-coupled microRNA capture and fluorescence in situ hybridization were conducted to evaluate the interaction between cSMARCA5 and miR-17-3p/miR-181b-5p. RESULTS The expression of cSMARCA5 was lower in HCC tissues, because of the regulation of DExH-Box Helicase 9, an abundant nuclear RNA helicase. The downregulation of cSMARCA5 in HCC was significantly correlated with aggressive characteristics and served as an independent risk factor for overall survival and recurrence-free survival in patients with HCC after hepatectomy. Our in vivo and in vitro data indicated that cSMARCA5 inhibits the proliferation and migration of HCC cells. Mechanistically, we found that cSMARCA5 could promote the expression of TIMP3, a well-known tumor suppressor, by sponging miR-17-3p and miR-181b-5p. CONCLUSION These results reveal an important role of cSMARCA5 in the growth and metastasis of HCC and provide a fresh perspective on circRNAs in HCC progression. LAY SUMMARY Herein, we studied the role of cSMARCA5, a circular RNA, in hepatocellular carcinoma. Our in vitro and in vivo data showed that cSMARCA5 inhibits the growth and migration of hepatocellular carcinoma cells, making it a potential therapeutic target.

Subfields: Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, Molecular Biology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/6042bdb306d7797a9118480637de07645df69698