Circ_0078619 facilitates oral squamous cell carcinoma progression via miR-142-5p/ROCK1 axis

Abstract

The present study is aimed at investigating the effects of circular RNA circ_0078619 on oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) cell growth, migration, invasion, and apoptosis, as well as its mechanism. The GSE131182 dataset was downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), and GEO2R was adopted to analyze the differentially expressed circular RNAs in OSCC tissues compared with normal tissue samples. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was conducted for detecting the expressions of circ_0078619, microRNA (miRNA, miR)-142-5p, and Rho-associated coiled-coil containing protein kinase 1 (ROCK1) mRNA. Western blot was adopted to quantify the expression of ROCK1 protein in OSCC cells. Cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay, 5-bromo-2’-deoxyuridine (BrdU) assay, Transwell assay, and flow cytometry were employed to assess cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and apoptosis. Bioinformatics was adopted to predict the targeted relationship between miR-142-5p and circ_0078619 or ROCK1 mRNA 3’UTR, and RNA immunoprecipitation and dual-luciferase reporter gene assays were used for validation. Moreover, Pearson correlation analysis was utilized to analyze the correlation among their expressions. Circ_0078619 expression was elevated in OSCC cells and tissues, and its high expression was strongly associated with advanced TNM (tumor, node, metastases) stage and the poor differentiation of tumor tissue. Knockdown of circ_0078619 repressed OSCC cell growth, migration, and invasion, and promoted cell apoptosis. MiR-142-5p was directly targeted by circ_0078619, which negatively modulated its expression. ROCK1 was a target of miR-142-5p, and ROCK1 expression could be positively and indirectly modulated by circ_0078619. Circ_0078619 and miR-142-5p expressions were negatively correlated, while circ_0078619 and ROCK1 expressions were positively correlated in OSCC tissues. Circ_0078619 promoted OSCC cell growth, migration, and invasion, and suppressed apoptosis by modulating the miR-142-5p/ROCK1 axis.