Circβ-catenin promotes tumor growth and Warburg effect of gallbladder cancer by regulating STMN1 expression

Gallbladder cancer (GBC) is the most malignant cancer of the biliary tract cancer and presents poor prognosis. CircRNAs have been identified as critical regulators of multiple stages in tumor progression. In the study, we first demonstrated that circular RNA circβ-catenin expression was upregulated in GBC tissues when compared to adjacent normal tissues and associated with advanced clinical stage and poor prognosis in GBC patients. Silencing of circβ-catenin obviously suppressed GBC cell proliferation and cell cycle progression in vitro, but circβ-catenin overexpression had the opposite effects. In vivo, silencing of circβ-catenin inhibited tumor growth. Furthermore, we also found that circβ-catenin promoted GBC cell lactate production, pyruvate production, ATP quantity, and extracellular acidification rate (ECAR), which suggested that circβ-catenin regulated Warburg effect in GBC. Mechanistic analysis further highlighted that circβ-catenin promoted Stathmin 1 (STMN1) expression through sponging miR-223 in GBC progression. In addition, knockdown of STMN1 inhibited cell growth and Warburg effect in GBC. In summary, our findings indicated that circβ-catenin/miR-223/STMN1 axis could regulate cell growth and Warburg effect in GBC. Targeting circβ-catenin might be a potential therapeutic strategy for GBC.