Abstract 5680: Circular MALAT1 - the new kid on the block in breast-to-brain metastatic cancer

Abstract

Abstract Introduction: Breast-to-brain metastatic (BTB met) cancer constitutes a great challenge for modern medicine and science. As the research on protein-coding genes brought only incremental progress in developing anticancer therapy, much attention is devoted to understanding the role of non-coding RNAs, including a relatively recently discovered group - of circular RNAs. This project aimed to determine the relationship between BTB met cancer cells and cells derived from a deadly brain tumor - glioblastoma stem-like cells (GSCs), considering the circular RNA signatures and selecting a reliable candidate for mechanistic study - a circular form of non-coding oncogene MALAT1 (circMALAT1). Methods: The circular RNA expression profile in patient-derived BTB met cancer cells (n=4), GSCs (n=8), and neural progenitor cells (NPC) as a non-malignant control (n=3) was evaluated by the microarray approach. Expression of circMALAT1 was also validated in non-malignant breast epithelial cells by digital PCR and data mining in the GEO database. CircMALAT1 knockdown by antisense oligonucleotides was followed by functional analysis. Results: 12,660 circular RNAs were detected using the Arraystar platform, and upon applying the cutoff of FC ≥2 and p-value <0.05, 547 circular RNAs were selected as significantly deregulated in all cancer groups compared to NPC. CircMALAT1 was elevated in BTB met compared to NPC and normal breast epithelial cells. Knockdown of circMALAT1 affected cancer cell viability and proliferation while promoting p21 expression, thus decelerating the cell cycle manifested by a reduction in 3D spheroids volume. Conclusions: The analysis of the circular RNA landscape showed for the first time some striking similarities between BTB mets and GSCs despite different tissue-of-origin. Of note, the circRNAome of BTB mets clustered especially closely with mesenchymal GSC - the most aggressive and therapy-resistant subtype of GSCs. These results also demonstrated the role of circMALAT1 in shaping the oncogenic traits of these cells. Therefore, circular RNAs can serve as valuable biomarkers and promising novel mechanistic candidates whose modulation may become a paradigm-shifting therapeutic approach. Citation Format: Adrian Szczepaniak, Agnieszka Bronisz, Jakub Godlewski. Circular MALAT1 - the new kid on the block in breast-to-brain metastatic cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 5680.