Circ_KATNAL1 regulates prostate cancer cell growth and invasion through miR-145-3p/WISP1 pathway.

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second leading cause of death in men, and current studies have shown that circular RNAs (circRNAs) play important roles in its occurrence and development. Detection of circRNAs in PCa cells found that circ_KATNAL1 was down-regulated, mainly located in the cytoplasm and contained multiple binding sites of miR-145-3p, an anti-cancer miRNA. RIP detection with anti-AGO2 antibody, RNA pull down assay with biotin-labeled circ_KATNAL1 probe or miR-145-3p mimics, and dual luciferase reporter gene assay confirmed that circ_KATNAL1 directly bound to miR-145-3p in cells, and WISP1, which was highly expressed in many tumors, was an important target gene of miR-145-3p. Circ_KATNAL1 and miR-145-3p promoted each other's expression, and down-regulated the expression of target gene WISP1. Both circ_KATNAL1 and miR-145-3p inhibited cell proliferation, invasion, migration and the expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9, promoted cell apoptosis and the activation of Caspase-3, Caspase-8, Caspase-9 and PARP, while WISP1 had the opposite effects, and the above functions of circ_KATNAL1 were performed through the miR-145-3p/WISP1 pathway. Therefore, circ_KATNAL1 plays an anti-cancer role in PCa cells through the miR-145-3p/WISP1 pathway, which may be an important target for the diagnosis and treatment of PCa.