Invasion-related circular RNA circFNDC3B inhibits bladder cancer progression through the miR-1178-3p/G3BP2/SRC/FAK axis

BACKGROUND: Increasing evidence has revealed that circular RNAs (circRNAs) play crucial roles in cancer biology. However, the role and underlying regulatory mechanisms of circFNDC3B in bladder cancer (BC) remain unknown. METHODS: A cell invasion model was established by repeated transwell assays, and invasion-related circRNAs in BC were identified through an invasion model. The expression of circFNDC3B was detected in 82 BC tissues and cell lines by quantitative real-time PCR. Functional assays were performed to evaluate the effects of circFNDC3B on proliferation, migration and invasion in vitro-, and on tumorigenesis and metastasis in vivo. The relationship between circFNDC3B and miR-1178-3p was confirmed by fluorescence in situ hybridization, pull-down assay and luciferase reporter assay. RESULTS: In the present study, we identified a novel circRNA (circFNDC3B) through our established BC cell invasion model. We found that circFNDC3B was dramatically downregulated in BC tissues and correlated with pathological T stage, grade, lymphatic invasion and patients’ overall survival rate. Functionally, overexpression of circFNDC3B significantly inhibited proliferation, migration and invasion both in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, circFNDC3B could directly bind to miR-1178-3p, which targeted the 5′UTR of the oncogene G3BP2. Moreover, circFNDC3B acted as a miR-1178-3p sponge to suppress G3BP2, thereby inhibiting the downstream SRC/FAK signaling pathway. CONCLUSIONS: CircFNDC3B may serve as a novel tumor suppressive factor and potential target for new therapies in human BC. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12943-018-0908-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.