CircHIPK3 overexpression accelerates the proliferation and invasion of prostate cancer cells through regulating miRNA-338-3p

CircHIPK3 Facilitates the G2/M Transition in Prostate Cancer Cells by Sponging miR-338-3p

Background

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) play a crucial role in gene expression regulation. CircHIPK3 is a circRNA derived from Exon 2 of HIPK3 gene and its role in prostate cancer (PCa) is still unclear.

Methods

CCK8 assays, flow cytometry and colony formation assays were performed to assess the effects of circHIPK3 in PCa cells. Bioinformatics analysis, RNA pull-down assay, RNA immunoprecipitation assay (RIP), and luciferase activity assay were performed to dissect the mechanism underlying circHIPK3-mediated G2/M transition in PCa cells.

Results

CircHIPK3 expression was upregulated in PCa cells and prostate cancer tissues. Overexpression of circHIPK3 or circHIPK3 silencing altered PCa viability, proliferation and apoptosis in vitro. CircHIPK3 could sponge miR-338-3p and inhibit its activity, resulting in increased expression of Cdc25B and Cdc2 in vitro.

Conclusion

CircHIPK3 promotes G2/M transition and induces PCa cell proliferation by sponging miR-338-3p and increasing the expression of Cdc25B and Cdc2. CircHIPK3 may play an oncogenic role in PCa.

Circular RNAs in nasopharyngeal carcinoma

BACKGROUND

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a geographical distributed epithelial tumor of head and neck, which is prevalent in east Africa and Asia, especially southern China. Moreover, NPC has an unfavorable clinical effect and is prone to metastasis at an advanced stage. Although the recovery rate of patients has been improved due to concurrent chemoradiotherapy, poor curative effects and low overall survival remain key issues. The precise mechanisms and pivotal regulators of NPC remain still unclear. To improve the therapeutic efficacy, we focused on related-NPC circular RNAs (circRNAs). CircRNAs are a unique type of endogenous non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) with a covalent closed-loop structure. Their expression is rich, stable and conservative. Different circRNA have specific tissue and developmental stages and can be detected in body fluids. In addition, circRNAs are involved in multiple pathological processes, especially in cancers. In recent years, using high-throughput indicator technology and bioinformatics technology, a large number of circRNAs have been identified in NPC cells and verified to have biological functions and mechanisms of action. This article aims to provide a retrospective review of the latest research on the proliferation and migration of related-NPC circRNA. Specifically, we focused on the roles and mechanisms of circRNAs in the development and progression of NPC.

CONCLUSION

CircRNA can act as an oncogene or tumor suppressor gene and participate in NPC progression (e.g., proliferation, apoptosis, migration, and invasion). In short, circRNAs have potential as biomarkers for the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of NPC.

Circular RNA HIPK3 is a Prognostic and Clinicopathological Predictor in Malignant Tumor Patients

Objectives: Circular RNA Homeodomain Interacting Protein Kinase 3 (circHIPK3) is one of the most researched circRNAs in recent 5 years. Many individual studies confirmed that aberrantly expression of circHIPK3 held prognostic value in various tumors. Thus, the aim of this meta-analysis is to assess its prognostic potentials and functions in malignant tumors.

Materials and methods: Multiple databases were carefully searched for articles published about circHIPK3 over the past 10 years. Hazard ratios (HRs) or odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were calculated to demonstrate prognostic value of circHIPK3 using Stata 15.0 software.

Results: 8 studies including 1175 patients were ultimately enrolled in this meta-analysis. Pooled results showed that abnormal expression of circHIPK3 was significantly correlated with unfavorable OS (pooled HR=2.12, 95% CI: 1.69-2.66) and DFS/PFS (HR=2.28, 95% CI: 1.67-3.10) in cancer patients. Additionally, abnormal expression of circHIPK3 was also related to the distal metastasis of the tumors (OR: 3.27, 95%CI: 2.16-4.97, p<0.001).

Conclusions: Abnormal expression of circHIPK3, no matter high or low expression, was associated with poor clinical outcomes in multiple cancer types. More comprehensive studies were required to verify and strengthen the clinical value of circHIPK3 in human malignant diseases.

Prolactin-Responsive Circular RNA circHIPK3 Promotes Proliferation of Mammary Epithelial Cells from Dairy Cow

The highly expressed circHIPK3 is a circular RNA that has been previously reported to regulate the growth of human cells. In this study, we found an increased expression of circHIPK3 in bovine mammary epithelial cells treated with prolactin (PRL) in high-throughput sequencing data. Thus, we further investigated the effect of circHIPK3 on the proliferation and differentiation of mammary epithelial cells. We used qRT-PCR/Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) and a Western blotting analysis to evaluate the effects on cell proliferation. We found that circHIPK3 promotes the proliferation of mammary epithelial cells. The STAT5 signaling pathway was previously associated with the prolactin response and when the STAT5 was suppressed, the expression of circHIPK3 decreased. The results suggest that the response to prolactin and the associated STAT5 signaling pathway affect the expression of circHIPK3, which subsequently affects the proliferation of mammary epithelial cells in dairy cows.

Biological Roles and Mechanisms of Circular RNA in Human Cancers

Circular RNA (circRNA) is an intriguing class of RNA with covalently closed-loop structure and is highly stable and conservative. As new members of the ncRNAs, the function, mechanism, potential diagnostic biomarker, and therapeutic target have raised increased attention. Most circRNAs are presented with characteristics of abundance, stability, conservatism, and often exhibiting tissue/developmental-stage-specific manner. Over 30,000 circRNAs have been identified with their unique structures to maintain stability more easily than linear RNAs. An increased numbers of circRNAs are dysregulated and involved in several biological processes of malignance, such as tumorigenesis, growth, invasion, metastasis, apoptosis, and vascularization. Emerging evidence suggests that circRNAs play important roles by acting as miRNA sponge or protein scaffolding, autophagy regulators, and interacting with RNA-binding protein (RBP), which may potentially serve as a novel promising biomarker for prevention, diagnosis and therapeutic target for treatment of human cancer with great significance either in scientific research or clinic arena. This review introduces concept, major features of circRNAs, and mainly describes the major biological functions and clinical relevance of circRNAs, as well as expressions and regulatory mechanisms in various types of human cancer, including pathogenesis, mode of action, potential target, signaling regulatory pathways, drug resistance, and therapeutic biomarkers. All of which provide evidence for the potential utilities of circRNAs in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

CircHIPK3 Promotes Gemcitabine (GEM) Resistance in Pancreatic Cancer Cells by Sponging miR-330-5p and Targets RASSF1

Background

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most common malignant diseases in the world. Gemcitabine chemotherapy remains the most important clinical treatment. However, research found that pancreatic cancer cells have chemoresistance to gemcitabine and the effect is not satisfactory. Therefore, it is urgent to find an effective early diagnosis and treatment strategy. Circular RNA is one of the most popular prognostic biomarkers in GEM-resistant PC.

Materials and Methods

The present study was designed to evaluate the role of circHIPK3 in PC. The expression of circHIPK3 in PC tissues and cells and its effect on proliferation, migration, invasion, EMT, and apoptosis were investigated in vitro; its effect on tumor xenografts was assessed in vivo. Used bioinformation analysis to predict which miRNAs could potentially interact with circHIPK3, mRNA, and miR-330-5p.

Results

RT-PCR showed that the level of circHIPK3 was increased in PC tumor tissues; moreover, circHIPK3 was also increased in GEM-resistant PC tumors tissues and GEM-resistant PC cells. Sh-circHIPK3 could knockdown circHIPK3 in PANC-1-GEM and SW-1990-GEM and could significantly inhibit cell proliferation, invasion, migration, EMT and enhance cell apoptosis, compare with control group, the tumor xenografts of circHIPK3 knockdown group were significantly smaller. CircHIPK3 served as a sponge for miR-330-5p, and miR-330-5p directly bound to the 3′ UTR of RASSF1 were revealed by dual luciferase assay and RIP in PC cells. CircHIPK3 knockdown of RASSF1 expression could neutralize the cytological function of PC cells by miR-330-5p inhibitor mediated GEM-resistance.

Conclusion

CircHIPK3 promotes gemcitabine (GEM) resistance in pancreatic cancer cells by targeting RASSF1 via miR-330-5p and regulates proliferation, invasive, migration, EMT, and apoptosis. Our research revealed that circHIPK3 may be a novel biomarker in GEM-resistant PC and could be used as a prognostic target.

Circular RNA CircHIPK3 Promotes Gemcitabine Sensitivity in Bladder Cancer

Purpose: Recent studies showed circular RNA (circRNA) played important regulatory roles in tumors, including genesis of chemotherapy resistance. In this study, the role of circHIPK3 on chemotherapy resistance of bladder cancer (BC) will be clarified. Methods: Real-time quantitative PCR was applied to examine the circHIPK3 expression. The gemcitabine sensitivity and cell proliferation viability were analyzed by Cell Counting Kit-8 assay. Double-stained flow cytometry was used to detect the cell apoptosis. Results: In BC tissues and cell lines, the circHIPK3 expression was down-regulated. Its expression had a negative correlation with pathological grade, lymph node metastasis and gemcitabine insensitivity of BC patients. CircHIPK3 was a independent prognostic biomarker for BC patients. The expression of circHIPK3 in T24/gem and J82/gem cell lines (resistant to gemcitabine) was down-regulated significantly. The over-expression of circHIPK3 decreased IC50 of gemcitabine and promoted gemcitabine's cytotoxicity in T24/gem and J82/gem cells. Conclusions: The circHIPK3 is low-expressed in BC and is an independent prognostic biomarker for BC patients. The low-expression of circHIPK3 is associated with the insensitivity to gemcitabine of BC patients, over-expression of circHIPK3 promotes gemcitabine sensitivity in BC.

The circular RNA HIPK3 (circHIPK3) and its regulation in cancer progression: Review

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a class of covalently closed continuous loops of single-stranded RNA molecules, and broadly expressed in the cytoplasm of eukaryotic cells. CircRNAs have attracted considerable research attention in recent years, an attention primarily attributed to their critical roles in the development and progression of diseases, especially in cancers. The circRNA homeodomain-interacting protein kinase 3 (circHIPK3) is a recently identified circRNA, acknowledged to be relevant to human pathology and cancer progression. Here, we summarize the origin and functions of the circHIPK3 and its target molecules in cancer, and thus, providing a broader knowledge to our current understanding of circRNAs. This review will therefore be essential to enriching our knowledge on the roles of circRNAs in cancers by outlining their potential values and application in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.