Circ_BACH2 affects the malignant biological behavior of papillary thyroid cancer by regulating miR-370-3p

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the influence of circ_BACH2 on the malignant biological behavior of papillary thyroid cancer and its molecular mechanism. Methods: Cancer tissues and paracancer tissues of 51 patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma from the Fourth Central Hospital of Tianjin between 2017 and 2019 were collected. Reverse transcription-quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was used to detect the expressions of circ_BACH2, miR-370-3p and G protein coupled receptor kinase interacting factor 1 (GIT1) mRNA in tissues and cells; flow cytometry to detect cell apoptosis and cell cycle; plate clone formation experiment to detect the number of cell clones; cell counting kit 8 (CCK-8) to detect cell proliferation; Transwell array to detect cell migration and invasion; western blot to detect protein expressions; dual luciferase report experiment to detect the targeting relationship between circ_BACH2, miR-370-3p and GIT1; the nude mouse tumor formation experiment to detect the effect of circ_BACH2 on tumors in mice. Results: Compared with adjacent tissues, the expressions of circ_BACH2 and GIT1 in papillary thyroid cancer tissues was increased, while the expression of miR-370-3p was decreased. Compared with Nthy-ori3-1 cells, the expressions of circ_BACH2 in papillary thyroid cancer cells TPC-1 and SW579 were increased, the mRNA and protein levels of GIT1 were increased, miR-370-3p expression was decreased. The expression level of GIT1 mRNA was negatively correlated with that of miR-370-3p (r=-0.634), and the expression level of circ_BACH2 was positively correlated with that of GIT1 (r=0.635). The expression level of circ_BACH2 was negatively correlated with that of miR-370-3p (r=-0.394, P＜0.05). Circ_BACH2 and miR-370-3p has a binding site at the 3' UTR of GIT1. After knocking down circ_BACH2, the proportion of G0/G1 cells in papillary thyroid cancer cells TPC-1 and SW579 was increased, the proportion of S-phase cells was decreased and the proportion of G2/M-phase cells did not change significantly. The cell absorbance value was lower than that in si-NC group. The number of cell clone formation was decreased (43±5 vs 100±6, 54±8 vs 100±9); the cell apoptosis rate was increased [(19.60±2.40)% vs (4.30±0.20)%, (18.10±2.10)% vs (5.10±0.23)%]; cell migration number was decreased (61±7 vs 134±15, 58±6 vs 112±11), the invasion number was also decreased (45±6 vs 113±11, 47±4 vs 92±9); the expressions of Snail and Twist1 were decreased, and the expression of E-cadherin was increased (P＜0.000). Inhibition of miR-370-3p expression reversed the effect of circ_BACH2 knockdown on proliferation, migration, invasion and apoptosis of thyroid papillary cancer cells. Overexpression of GIT1 reversed the effects of overexpression of miR-370-3p on proliferation, migration, invasion and apoptosis of thyroid papillary cancer cells. Mice injected with TPC-1 cells stably transfected with sh-circ_BACH2 showed a reduction in tumor volume [(535±91) mm3 vs (857±114) mm3] after 35 days of culture; tumor weight was decreased [(0.62±0.13) mg vs (1.06±0.15) mg, P＜0.05]; the expressions of circ_BACH2 and GIT1 were decreased, and the expression of miR-370-3p was increased in nude mouse tumor tissue. Conclusion: Silencing circ_BACH2 may inhibit the proliferation, migration and invasion of papillary thyroid cancer cells in vitro, promote cell apoptosis, and inhibit tumor growth in vivo through targeted regulation of miR-370-3p/GIT1.