Circ_0014359 promotes oral squamous cell carcinoma progression by sponging miR-149

Xubin  Chen; Jingxin Chen; Liangbin  Fu; Jimin  Chen; Yang  Chen; Feng  Liu

doi:10.18388/abp.2020_5745

Xubin Chen Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Hainan General Hospital (Hainan Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University), Haikou, Hainan, China
Jingxin Chen Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Hainan General Hospital (Hainan Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University), Haikou, Hainan, China
Liangbin Fu Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Hainan General Hospital (Hainan Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University), Haikou, Hainan, China
Jimin Chen Departments of Pathology, Hainan Province People’s Hospital, Haikou, Hainan, China
Yang Chen Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Hainan General Hospital (Hainan Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University), Haikou, Hainan, China
Feng Liu Department of Stomatology, Hunan Province People’s Hospital, Changsha, Hunan, China

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18388/abp.2020_5745

Abstract

This study aimed to explore the role and mechanism of circ_0014359 in the OSCC. We firstly investigated the expression levels of circ_0014359 in OSCC tissues and cell lines. Then, the effects of knocking down circ_0014359 on cellular viability, apoptosis, migration, and invasion of OSCC cell lines were observed by cell counting kit-8 assay, flow cytometry, and transwell assay. Xenografts mouse model was established to explore the in vivo effect of circ_0014359 on the tumor volume and size of OSCC. We found that circ_0014359 was highly expressed in the OSCC tissues and cell lines compared to the normal controls (P<0.05). The expression of circ_0014359 was associated with the survival of patients (P<0.05). For the OSCC cell lines, circ_0014359 knock down induced apoptosis and inhibited migration, invasion, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition of OSCC cells (P<0.001). In vivo, silencing the circ_0014359 blocked the growth of OSCC tumors. The circ_0014359 can directly interact with the micro-RNA-149 (miR-149). Inhibition of miR-149 can rescue the inhibitory effects of circ_0014359 knock down on OSCC cells. The circ_0014359-miR-149 pathway may be a novel target for developing strategies for the diagnosis and treatment of OSCC.