Circular RNA UBAP2 promotes the proliferation of prostate cancer cells via the miR-1244/MAP3K2 axis

Prostate cancer (PCa) is a common male malignant disease with a high incidence, which can seriously affect the quality of life of patients. The survival rate of patients with PCa has improved to 98.6%; however, new insights for the molecular mechanism are still urgently required. Circular RNA (circ)UBAP2 is a tumor-associated circRNA that has been demonstrated to promote the progression of various types of cancer. CircUBAP2 has been demonstrated to be significantly upregulated in PCa, but its role in the progression of PCa remains unclear. The present study aimed to provide an improved understanding of the regulatory mechanism of circUBAP2 in PCa. circUBAP2 expression was identified to be upregulated in four PCa cell lines and clinical tissues by using reverse transcription-quantitative PCR analysis. Binding sites analysis and luciferase reporter gene assay indicated that the microRNA(miR)-1244/MAP3K2 axis was the target of circUBAP2. Gain-of-function assays revealed that circUBAP2 promoted the proliferation of PCa cells by sponging miR-1244 and promoting the MAP3K2 axis. The present findings may be essential for providing new strategies in the diagnosis and targeted therapy of PCa.