The circBVES Acts as a Sponge of miR-145-5p to Promote Gastric Cancer Glycolysis and Progression Through Regulating HMGB3 Expression

Abstract Background: CircRNA is a new type of non-coding RNA that has attracted much attention for involvement in the development and progression of various human diseases, especially cancer. The most reported role of circRNA in many tumors is ‘MiRNA sponge’. We aimed to investigate the role of circBVES in the proliferation and glycolysis of gastric cancer cells and its molecular mechanisms.Methods: In this study, higher CircBVES expression in gastric cancer tissues was detected by RNA sequencing. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to detect the expression of CircBVES in gastric cancer tissues, and the relationship between the expression of CircBVES and prognosis was further analyzed. Then, the effects of CircBVES on the growth and glycolysis of gastric cancer cells were investigated through in vitro and in vivo functional experiments. The interaction between CircBVES and miR-145-5p was detected by bioinformatics analysis, luciferase activity assay and RNA immunoprecipitation.Results: We found that the expression of CircBVES in gastric cancer tissues was evidently up-regulated, and its level was closely correlated with the prognosis of patients with gastric cancer. Inhibition of CircBVES decreased cell proliferation and glycolysis in vitro. Low expression of CircBVES inhibited tumor growth in vivo. Mechanism analysis showed that CircBVES may serve as a competitive endogenous RNA of miR-145-5p to reduce the expression of miR-145-5p in gastric cancer cells, and relieve the repressive effect of miR-145-5p on target genes HMGB3 and cycle-related proteins CCNE1 and CDK2.Conclusions: Our results suggest that CircAGFG1 may promote the progress of gastric cancer through the CircBVES / miR-145-5p / HMGB3 axis, providing a new target for the treatment of gastric cancer cells.