Identification of circRNA-mediated competing endogenous RNA network involved in the development of cervical cancer

The abnormal expression of circRNA may contribute to the progression of cervical cancer by influencing the biological processes.

This study aimed to identify the differentially expressed circRNAs in cervical cancer and validate the circ_0008193 ceRNA network in cervical cancer cells.

Using the absolute log2 value of fold change >1 and p-value of <0.05, the differentially expressed circRNAs were obtained from GSE102686 and GSE113696 from cervical cancer tissues and cervical cancer cells with the help of the GEO2R tool. Downstream miRNAs and mRNAs were predicted using relevant informatics databases. The circRNA-miRNA-mRNA interaction network was conducted with the assistance of Cytoscape. Circ_0008193-miR-182-5p-PTEN axis was validated with expression level and cell function using RT-qPCR, a dual-luciferase reporter assay, and cellular experiments.

GSE102686 and GSE113696 databases overlapped 7 differentially expressed circRNAs and five circRNAs have the same expression pattern. Based on the literature and expression pattern, a circRNA-miRNA-mRNA network was conducted. The circ_0008193, miR-182-5p, and PTEN expression patterns were downregulation, upregulation, and downregulation, respectively. Overexpressed circ_0008193 suppressed proliferation, migration, and invasion of cervical cancer cells. MiR-182-5p diminished the inhibitory influence of circ_0008193 on cellular behaviors, while PTEN counteracted the effect of miR-182-5p.

This investigation revealed the existence of a circRNA-miRNA-mRNA network in cervical cancer, and preliminary verified the function of circ_0008193-miR-182-5p-PTEN axis in cervical cancer cells, which offers additional guidance on investigating the molecular mechanisms of cervical cancer.