Circular RNA PVT1 promotes progression of thyroid cancer by competitively binding miR-384

Plasmacytoma variant translocation 1 circular RNA (circPVT1) is involved in the initiation and development of several types of cancer. However, the underlying molecular role of circPVT1 in tumorigenesis of thyroid cancer remains to be elucidated. In the present study, relative expression of circPVT1 was markedly upregulated in thyroid cancer compared with adjacent normal tissue. circPVT1 expression was associated with clinical stage and lymph node metastasis. Furthermore, Cell Counting Kit-8, colony formation and Transwell chamber assays demonstrated that knockdown of circPVT1 decreased proliferation, migration and invasion of thyroid cancer cells in vitro. Moreover, circPVT1 directly interacted with microRNA (miR)-384, as shown by bioinformatics prediction and dual luciferase and RNA pull-down assay. miR-384 inhibition partially reversed the circPVT1 knockdown-mediated inhibitory effect on proliferation, migration and invasion of thyroid cancer cells. In summary, these findings demonstrated that circPVT1 may be a potential therapeutic target for thyroid cancer.