Circular RNA circ_0017247 promotes melanoma migration and invasion via targeting miR-145

The importance of the circular ribonucleic acid (RNA) in malignant tumors causes more attention of researchers. Melanoma is one of the most ordinary malignant tumors. This study aims to identify how circ_0017247 functions in the progression of melanoma.

Circ_0017247 expression of both melanoma patients' tissue samples and cell lines were detected by Real Time-quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-qPCR). Moreover, the function of circ_0017247 was identified by performing the Wound healing assay, the transwell assay, and the Matrigel assay in vitro. Besides, the mechanism assays were performed to uncover the interaction between circ_0017247 and miR-145. In addition, the tumor metastasis assays were also conducted in vivo.

In this study, circ_0017247 expression was significantly higher in melanoma tissues compared with that in the skin tissues with a melanocytic nevus. The migrated length of the melanoma cells was reduced after circ_0017247 was silenced. Moreover, the number of migrated and invaded melanoma cells was reduced after circ_0017247 was silenced. Further experiments revealed that miR-145 was upregulated via knockdown of circ_0017247 and was also a direct target of circ_0017247 in melanoma. Furthermore, the tumor metastasis of melanoma was inhibited via knockdown of circ_0017247 in nude mice.

Our study suggests that circ_0017247 enhances melanoma cell migration and invasion via targeting miR-145 in vitro and in vivo.