Increased expression of circRNA_102231 in lung cancer and its clinical significance.

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a type of endogenous non-coding RNAs which implicated in the progression of cancers. However, the role of circRNA_102231 in lung cancer remains unclear. Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets were used to investigate aberrantly expressed circRNAs in lung cancer. CircRNA_102231 expression in lung adenocarcinoma (LAC) tissues was dertermined by qRT-PCR. Furthermore, we explored the functions of circRNA_102231 on lung cancer cells progression. In the present study, circRNA_102231 was found to be one of the most significantly upregulated circRNAs in the GEO datasets analysis (GSE101586). QRT-PCR showed that circRNA_102231 expression was significantly upregulated in LAC tissues and associated with the advanced TNM stage, lymph node metastasis, and poor overall survival of lung cancer patients. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was 0.897. in addition, function assays showed that circRNA_102231 inhibition significantly suppressed lung cancer cells proliferation and invasion ability in vitro. In conclusion, our study demonstrated that circRNA_102231 could act as a potential biomarker and therapeutic target for lung cancer patients.