Abstract
BackgroundCircRNAs play crucial roles in multiple tumours. However, the functions of most circRNAs in cervical cancer remain unclear.MethodsThis study collected GSE113696 data from the GEO database to search for differentially expressed circRNAs in cervical cancer. Quantitative reverse transcription PCR was used to detect the expression level of circNEIL3 in cervical cancer cells and tissues. Then, functional experiments in vitro and in vivo were performed to evaluate the effects of circNEIL3 in cervical cancer.ResultsCircNEIL3 was highly expressed in cervical cancer. In vivo and in vitro experiments verified that circNEIL3 enhanced the proliferation capacity of cervical cancer cells. RNA immunoprecipitation, luciferase reporter assay, pull-down assay, and fluorescent in situ hybridization confirmed the interaction between circNEIL3 and miR-137 in cervical cancer. A luciferase reporter assay showed that circNEIL3 adsorbed miR-137 and upregulated KLF12 to regulate the proliferation of cervical cancer cells.ConclusionsCircNEIL3 is an oncogene in cervical cancer and might serve as a ceRNA that competitively binds to miR-137, thereby indirectly upregulating the expression of KLF12 and promoting the proliferation of cervical cancer cells.
Highlights
CircRNAs play crucial roles in multiple tumours
CircRNA is a kind of noncoding RNA with a ring structure made through covalent binding that is not affected by RNA excision enzymes and is evolutionally conserved
In vivo and in vitro experiments verified that circNEIL3 enhanced the proliferation capacity of cervical cancer cells
Summary
CircRNAs play crucial roles in multiple tumours. With the emergence of new generation sequencing technology and the advancement of bioinformatics, the regulatory roles of circRNAs in eukaryotic cells have gradually been recognized [7, 8]. It has been indicated that circRNAs play crucial roles in the initiation and development of multiple tumours, including cervical cancer [12,13,14,15,16,17]. Data from cervical cancer patient specimens from the Third Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University were combined with GEO data, and it was discovered that circNEIL3 was highly expressed in cervical cancer. Subsequent molecular mechanism analysis revealed that circNEIL3 was an oncogene that served as the ceRNA to indirectly upregulate KLF12 expression by competitively binding with miR-137, promoting the proliferation of cervical cancer cells
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