Circ_100549 promotes tumor progression in lung adenocarcinoma through upregulation of BIRC6.

ABSTRACT

Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is a subtype of lung cancer with high incidence and mortality globally. Emerging evidence suggests that circular RNAs (circRNAs) exert critical functions in human cancers, including LUAD. CircRNA_100549 (circ_100549) has been reported to be significantly upregulated in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) samples, while its role in modulating LUAD progression remains to be explored. The current study aims at investigating the functional roles of circ_100549 in LUAD and its downstream molecular mechanism. First, we found that the expression of circ_100549 was higher in LUAD cell lines. Loss-of-function assays verified that depletion of circ_100549 repressed LUAD cell proliferation but accelerated cell apoptosis. Furthermore, in vivo experiments demonstrated that silencing of circ_100549 suppressed tumor growth. Subsequently, based on database analysis, we carried out a series of experiments to explore the mechanisms and effects of circ_100549 underlying LUAD progression, including RNA-binding protein immunoprecipitation (RIP), RNA/DNA pull-down, luciferase reporter, and chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assays. The results indicated that circ_100549 serves as a ceRNA by sponging miR-95-5p to upregulate BPTF expression, thus upregulating BIRC6 expression at a transcriptional level in LUAD. In summary, our study demonstrated that circ_100549 facilitates LUAD progression by upregulating BIRC6 expression.