Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2019. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Apr 28, 2019; 25(16): 1964-1974
Published online Apr 28, 2019. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v25.i16.1964
Role and mechanism of circ-PRKCI in hepatocellular carcinoma
Su-Xia Qi, Hui Sun, Hui Liu, Jing Yu, Zhi-Yong Jiang, Ping Yan
Su-Xia Qi, Jing Yu, Ping Yan, Emergency Department, Qingdao Municipal Hospital (Group), Qingdao 266000, Shandong Province, China
Hui Sun, Department of Clinical Laboratory, Qingdao Municipal Hospital (Group), Qingdao 266000, Shandong Province, China
Hui Liu, Department of Clinical Laboratory, Qingdao Women's and Children's Hospital, Qingdao 266034, Shandong Province, China
Zhi-Yong Jiang, Department of Clinical Laboratory, Qingdao Haici Medical Group, Qingdao 266034, Shandong Province, China
Author contributions: Yan P designed the research; Qi SX wrote the article; Sun H and Liu H performed the research and acquired and analyzed the data; Yu J and Jiang ZY performed the majority of experiments; Qi SX, Sun H and Liu H contributed equally to this work.
Institutional review board statement: This study was reviewed and approved by the Qingdao Municipal Hospital (Group) Ethics Committee.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ping Yan, MSc, Attending Doctor, Emergency Department, Qingdao Municipal Hospital (Group), No. 5, Donghai Middle Road, Qingdao 266000, Shandong Province, China. kschdje384@163.com
Telephone: +86-13792498901 Fax: +86-532-00000530
Received: February 20, 2019
Peer-review started: February 20, 2019
First decision: March 13, 2019
Revised: March 21, 2019
Accepted: March 24, 2019
Article in press: March 25, 2019
Published online: April 28, 2019
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Digestive system tumors have high morbidity and mortality and account for a large proportion of all tumors. It has been confirmed that circRNAs are important in the occurrence and development of some digestive system tumors, such as gastric cancer, liver cancer, and colon cancer.

Research motivation

Does circ-PRKCI affect the occurrence and development of digestive tract tumors, especially hepatocellular carcinoma?

Research objectives

To investigate the role and molecular mechanism of circ-PRKCI in the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Research methods

This study used quantitative real-time PCR, Western blot, knockdown and overexpression experiments, fluorescence in situ hybridization, survival analysis, and statistical analyses.

Research results

The level of circ-PRKCI was significantly higher in HCC tissues than in adjacent tissues. Circ-PRKCI substantially inhibited cell apoptosis and promoted cell invasion. It was found that circ-PRKCI can act as the sponge of miRNA-545 to reduce the expression of AKT3 protein. Circ-PRKCI target gene E2F7 can reduce liver cancer patients’ survival rate. Circ-PRKCI was positively correlated with the depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis, and TNM stage.

Research conclusions

Circ-PRKCI is significantly involved in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Research perspectives

This study provides a new research direction and theoretical basis for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma.