Circular RNA circ_0006282 Contributes to the Progression of Gastric Cancer by Sponging miR-155 to Upregulate the Expression of FBXO22

BACKGROUND: There is increasing evidence that circular RNAs (circRNAs) play an important role in human cancers. As a newly identified human circular RNA, circ_0006282 is abnormally expressed in several types of cancers and promotes the development of cancers. However, the expression and function of circ_0006282 in gastric cancer (GC) remain unclear. METHODS: The expression of circ_0006282 in cancer tissues and adjacent non-cancer tissues was detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) method, and the relationship between circ_0006282 expression and clinicopathological parameters was analyzed. After knockdown of circ_0006282 by RNA interference in GC cells, CCK-8 assay, colony formation and transwell assays were conducted to examine the effects of circ_0006282 on GC cells. The influence of circ_0006282 on tumor growth in vivo was assessed in a xenograft model. Furthermore, regulatory relationship between circ_0006282, miR-155 and FBXO22 was detected by luciferase assay, qRT-PCR and Western blot. RESULTS: The expression of circ_0006282 in GC tissues was significantly higher than its adjacent non-cancer tissues and over-expression of circ_0006282 was associated with tumor size, lymph nodes metastasis and TNM stage, but no obvious links with other pathological parameters. Knockdown of circ_0006282 inhibited the proliferation and metastasis ability of GC cells in vitro and suppressed the tumor growth in vivo. Furthermore, mechanistic investigations suggested that circ_0006282 served as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) of miR-155. Moreover, FBXO22 was identified as the functional target of miR-155 and down-expression of circ_0006282 inhibited FBXO22 expression. Rescue assays also demonstrated that the oncogenic function of circ_0006282 is partly attributed to its regulation on miR-155/FBXO22 axis. CONCLUSION: Our findings indicated that over-expression of circ_0006282 down‑regulated miR-155 to activate the expression of FBXO22, thus promoting proliferation and metastasis of GC cells, which provides a promising therapeutic target for GC treatment.