Login to Access Video or Poster Abstract: MP48-15
Sources of Funding: none

Introduction

Recently?Circular RNAs (CircRNAs) have emerged as critical regulators in tumorigenesis and progression. However, the role and molecular mechanism of CircRNA ITCH in bladder cancer is still unclear.

Methods

Real-time PCR analysis was performed to measure the expression levels of circ-ITCH in bladder cancer tissues and cell lines. The biological function of circ-ITCH on bladder cancer cells were determined both in vitro and in vivo. Besides, bioinformatic databases including Starbase and CircInteractome were used to investigate the regulating relationship between circ-ITCH and miR-17 in bladder cancer cells. Western blotting was performed to detect the expression of p21 as a target of miR-17. Finally, the mechanism of competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) between circ-ITCH and miR-17 was determined using bioinformatic analysis and luciferase assays.

Results

Circ-ITCH was significantly down-regulated in bladder cancer tissues and cell lines. Overexpression of circ-ITCH exerted tumor-suppressive effects by inhibiting cell proliferation, migration and invasion in vitro and tumor growth in vivo. Furthermore, an inverse relationship between circ-ITCH and miR-17 was found. Circ-ITCH could partly abolish the effect that miR-17 targets p21 and lowers its expression consequently.

Conclusions

circ-ITCH is down-regulated significantly in bladder cancer, and the newly identified circ-ITCH/miR-17/p21 axis could be a potential biomarkers or therapeutic targets for bladder cancer patients.

Funding

none