CircRNA_0008194 functions as a ceRNA to promote invasion of hepatocellular carcinoma via inhibiting miR-190a/AHNAK signaling pathway.

backgroundHepatitis B virus infection was identified as the main risk factor of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in China, which induced a high morbidity and mortality. In recent years, circRNAs were reported involving in the oncogenesis and development of multiple malignant tumors.

methodBioinformatical analysis has been employed to predict the relevant circRNA with AHNAK. The loss of function and gain of function have been used by knocking-down circRNA through the shRNA technology while overexpressing through lentivirus infection. Dual-luciferase reporter assay was used to detect circRNA binding to miRNA and target genes. We further used immunoprecipitation technique to detect the binding ability between non-coding RNAs.

resultsIn this study, according to the previous report, we mainly focused on AHNAK, which has been confirmed as an oncogene involving in the metastasis of HCC. Bioinformatics analysis showed that circ_0008194 could be spliced by AHNAK. In this study, the abnormal upregulated circ_0008194 in tumor tissues was detected. The positive correlation between circ_0008194 and AHNAK was also confirmed. Through knockdown and overexpression of circ_0008194, we conducted in vitro functional studies. We found circ_0008194 could induce the invasion of cells in vitro. Mechanically, circ_0008194 presented the binding ability with miR-190a causing the suppression of miR-190a expression, causing the competitive inhibition of AHNAK, resulting in the promotion of EMT.

conclusionOur results suggested that circ_0008194 may act as a sponge to adsorb miR-190a, thereby promoting the expression of AHNAK and promoting the metastasis of liver cancer tumors.