Downregulation and upregulation

Cancer

Biology

Gene

Cell growth

Gene knockdown

microRNA

Molecular biology

Genetics

Cancer research

Ectopic expression

Metastasis

In vitro

Long non-coding RNA

In vivo

Cell culture

Molecular Cancer

Background As a novel class of non-coding RNAs, circular RNAs (circRNAs) are key regulators of the development and progression of different cancers. However, little is known about the function and biological mechanism of circLMTK2, also named hsa_circ_0001725, in gastric cancer (GC) tumourigenesis. Methods circLMTK2 was identified in ten paired cancer specimens and adjacent normal tissues by RNA sequencing and genome-wide bioinformatic analysis and verified by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Knockdown or exogenous expression of circLMTK2 combined with in vitro and in vivo assays were performed to prove the functional significance of circLMTK2. The molecular mechanism of circLMTK2 was demonstrated by searching the CircNet database and confirmed by RNA in vivo precipitation assays, western blotting, luciferase assays and rescue experiments. Results circLMTK2 was frequently upregulated in GC tissues, and high circLMTK2 expression was associated with poor prognosis, lymph node metastasis and poor TNM stage ...

circLMTK2 acts as a sponge of miR-150-5p and promotes proliferation and metastasis in gastric cancer