CircRNA hsa-circ-0014359 promotes glioma progression by regulating miR-153/PI3K signaling.

RNA back splicing produces circRNA, a new type of non-coding RNA. Studies have indicated that circRNAs play important roles in malignant tumors of the central nervous system. Here, we aimed to evaluate the expression of the circRNA, hsa-circ-0014359 (circ-0014359) in human glioma cell lines to assess its function in glioma progression and prognosis. The expression of circ-0014359 was increased in T98G and SHG44 cancer cell lines and glioma tissues from patients, when compared with control cells and tissue. SiRNA-mediated silencing of circ-0014359 potently inhibited cell viability, migration, invasion, and apoptosis of glioma cells. Further, our observations indicated that circ-0014359 acted as a miRNA-153 (miR-153) sponge in glioma cells. Transfection of miR-153 inhibitor significantly suppressed si-circ-0014359-induced inhibition of cell viability, cell migration, and invasion. The increased expression of circ-0014359 levels in glioma cells was correlated with downregulated expression of miR-153. Overexpression of miR-153 reduced p-AKTser473 (a PI3K pathway indicator) and the rescue experiment showed enhanced p-AKTser473 expression. Together, our study suggests that circ-0014359 promotes glioma progression via targeting miR-153/PI3K signaling pathway. Thus, our study provides insights into glioma progression and reveals potential new targets for treatment of glioma.