Circ-ABCB10 promotes growth and metastasis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma by upregulating ROCK1

OBJECTIVE

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is one of the most ordinary head and neck tumors. This study aims to uncover the role of circ-ABCB10 functions in the progression of NPC.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

The circ-ABCB10 expression was detected in paired NPC patients' tissue samples and cell lines. The role of circ-ABCB10 in NPC proliferation was identified through proliferation assay, Ethynyl deoxyuridine (EdU) assay and colony formation assay. Next, the role of circ-ABCB10 in NPC metastasis was measured through wound healing assay and transwell assay. Finally, the underlying mechanism was further uncovered through Western blot assay and real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR).

RESULTS

It was found that circ-ABCB10 expression was significantly higher in NPC tissues than that in adjacent samples. In addition, cell proliferation, migration and invasion of NPC were promoted through overexpression of circ-ABCB10 in vitro. Results of further experiments revealed that ROCK1 was upregulated via overexpression of circ-ABCB10 in NPC.

CONCLUSIONS

This study indicated that circ-ABCB10 promoted NPC cell proliferation and metastasis via upregulating ROCK1 in vitro.

Clinical significance of CTHRC1 protein expression in human cancers: a meta-analysis

The aim of this meta-analysis was to investigate the overall diagnostic and prognostic values of CTHRC1 expression in human cancer development. Based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 8 cohort studies were included in the meta-analysis. The data were extracted, and analyses were performed using a random-effects model. Summary odds ratios (ORs) and effect sizes (ESs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated to assess the strength of the associations. A total of 1065 cancer patients from the 8 studies were included in the meta-analysis. The results revealed a positive correlation of CTHRC1 protein expression in tumors with tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage and with lymph node (LN) metastasis (TNM: OR = 2.98, 95%CI = 1.48-6.00, P = 0.002; LN: OR = 4.26, 95%CI = 1.88-9.67, P = 0.001). CTHRC1 expression was higher in tumors with sizes ≥5 cm than in tumors with sizes <5 cm (OR = 2.39, 95%CI = 1.12-5.09, P = 0.024). Patients with higher CTHRC1 expression had decreased overall survival (OS) (ES = 1.78, 95%CI = 1.23-2.33, P < 0.001) and poorer disease-free survival (DFS) (ES = 1.71, 95%CI = 1.11-2.31, P < 0.001). Disease-stratified analyses yielded significantly different estimates of CTHRC1 levels in the majority of the subgroups (all P < 0.05). In conclusion, increased CTHRC1 expression is associated with advanced TNM stage, increased LN metastasis and tumor size, and decreased OS and DFS, indicating that CTHRC1 may be a biomarker for prognosis of cancer patients.