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CircMTO1 suppresses hepatocellular carcinoma progression via the miR-541-5p/ZIC1 axis by regulating Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition.

ABSTRACT: CircRNA mitochondrial tRNA translation optimization 1 (circMTO1) functions as a tumor suppressor usually and is related to the progression of many tumors, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). CircMTO1 is downregulated in HCC as compared to adjacent nontumor tissue, which may suppress the HCC progression by certain signal pathways. However, the underlying signal pathway remains largely unknown. The interactions between circMTO1 and miR-541-5p were predicted through bioinformatics analysis and verified using pull-down and dual-luciferase reporter assays. CCK-8, transwell, and apoptosis assays were performed to determine the effect of miR-541-5p on HCC progression. Using bioinformatic analysis, dual-luciferase reporter assay, RT-qPCR, and western blot, ZIC1 was found to be the downstream target gene of miR-541-5p. The regulatory mechanisms of circMTO1, miR-541-5p, and ZIC1 were investigated using in vitro and in vivo rescue experiments. The results depicted that silencing circMTO1 or upregulating miR-541-5p expression facilitated HCC cell proliferation, migration, and invasion and inhibited apoptosis. CircMTO1 silencing upregulated the expression of downstream ZIC1 regulators of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway markers, β-catenin, cyclin D1, c-myc, and the mesenchymal markers N-cadherin, Vimentin, and MMP2, while the epithelial marker E-cadherin was downregulated. MiR-541-5p knockdown had the opposite effect and reversed the effect of circMTO1 silencing on the regulation of downstream ZIC1 regulators. Intratumoral injection of miR-541-5p inhibitor suppressed tumor growth and reversed the effect of circMTO1 silencing on the promotion of tumor growth in HCC. These findings indicated that circMTO1 suppressed HCC progression via the circMTO1/ miR-541-5p/ZIC1 axis by regulating Wnt/β-catenin signaling and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, making it a novel therapeutic target.

SUBMITTER: Li D

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8688446 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Fewer than 30% of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are eligible to receive curative therapies, and so a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms of HCC is needed to identify potential therapeutic targets. The role of microRNA (miRNA) in modulating tumour progression has been demonstrated, and therapies targeting miRNA appear promising. miR-204-5p has been shown to function in numerous types of cancer, but its role in HCC remains unclear. In this study, we found that miR-204-5p expression was downregulated in cancerous HCC tissues compared to nontumour tissues. Kaplan-Meier survival curve analysis also showed that low expression of miR-204-5p predicted worse outcomes of HCC patients. In addition, miR-204-5p expression was significantly lower in HCC cell lines. The function of miR-204-5p was also assessed both in vitro and in vivo. We demonstrated that ectopic expression of miR-204-5p in HCC cell lines inhibited HCC cell proliferation and clonogenicity using CCK8, BrdU and colony-forming assays, while the inhibition of miR-204-5p enhanced proliferation and clonogenicity. Further in vivo studies in mice further confirmed the proliferation capacity of miR-204-5p. We also identified sine oculis homeobox homologue 1 (SIX1) as a direct target of miR-204-5p and showed that it was inversely correlated with miR-204-5p in both human and mouse HCC tissues. Transfection of miR-204-5p mimics in BEL-7404 cells blocked the cell cycle by inhibiting the expression of cyclin-D1 and cyclin-A1, cell cycle-related factors regulated by SIX1. More importantly, overexpression of the 3'UTR mutant SIX1 but not the wild-type SIX1 abolished the suppressive effect of miR-204-5p, and downregulated SIX1 in BEL-7402 cells that transfected with miR-204 inhibitors could partly block the inhibitory effect of miR-204-5p on proliferation. Thus, we have demonstrated that miR-204-5p suppresses HCC proliferation by directly regulating SIX1 and its downstream factors.

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CircMTO1 suppresses hepatocellular carcinoma progression via the miR-541-5p/ZIC1 axis by regulating Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition.

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