Purpose: Circular RNAs are novel endogenous RNAs, which are considered to play a role in tumorigenesis. Nevertheless, the role as well as clinical diagnostic value of most circular RNAs in colorectal cancer are still unclear.
Materials and Methods: We investigated the circular RNA microarray containing expression profiles in samples of colorectal cancer patients by bioinformatics. The consequence indicated that hsa_circ_0043278 was strongly downregulated. We then measured the expression level of hsa_circ_0043278 in tissue samples of colorectal cancer by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Besides, we also explored the expression condition of the circular RNA in colorectal cancer cell lines including HCT116, SW620, and SW480. Cell counting kit-8, colony formation, and transwell assays, as well as flow cytometry, were applied to detect changes in cell proliferation, migration, apoptosis, and cell cycle progression.
Results: We discovered that circular RNA hsa_circ_0043278 was significantly downregulated in tumor samples (P < 0.0001) as well as cell lines (P < 0.05). The value of the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.71, with a sensitivity of 0.72 and specificity of 0.70 (P = 0.0006). Moreover, we found that overexpression of hsa_circ_0043278 suppressed proliferation and migratory abilities while promoting apoptosis in colorectal cancer cells.
Conclusion: Our findings revealed that hsa_circ_0043278 inhibited the tumorigenesis of colorectal cancer and could be a potential biomarker for colorectal cancer diagnosis. Besides, it hopes to become a target for treatment.
Keywords: circular RNAs, apoptosis, suppressor, molecular marker, tumorigenesis